The beluga off the coast of Norway, which five years ago became a "Russian spy", most likely underwent "military training", experts say.
The beluga, named "Hvaldimir" - a pun on the Norwegian word for whale "hval" and its alleged ties to Moscow - was first discovered in 2019 off the coast of the far northern Finnmark region. Norwegian marine biologists then removed the attached artificial belt with a mount suitable for an action camera and the words "Equipment St. Petersburg" printed on the plastic clasps. Hvaldimir was found dead in September of this year.
Experts said the whale was unlikely to be a "spy" but indeed belonged to the Russian military and escaped from a naval base in the Arctic Circle.
Dr Olga Shpak told the BBC that the beluga was trained to guard the base but escaped because it was a "bully".
Russia has refused to confirm or deny that the whale was trained by the military. But Dr Shpak, who worked in Russia studying marine mammals from the 1990s until returning to her native Ukraine in 2022, said: "For me, it's 100 per cent certain."
Dr Shpak, whose account is based on conversations with friends and former colleagues in Russia, featured in the BBC documentary Secrets of the Spy Whale, which looked at the subject. | BGNES
