ANALYSIS – A beluga whale has reappeared off the coast of Sweden four years after it was seen in Norway wearing a harness, prompting speculation it was a spy trained by the Russian navy.
Named Hvaldimir by the Norwegians – a pun on whale in Norwegian, hval, and a nod to its alleged association with Russia – the beluga first popped up off the coast of Norway in 2019, spotted by fishermen who noticed the whale was wearing a harness equipped with camera mounts.
No equipment was found on Hvaldimir.
A fisherman alerted Norway's Directorate of Fisheries, who said a clip on the whale's harness read “Equipment St. Petersburg” – indicating it may have come from Russia.
“The whale seemed playful but our instincts said that it was also asking for help to get out of the harness,” Jorgen Ree Wiig, a marine biologist told CNN at the time.
The harness was removed at that time.
Referring to its recent sighting in more congested waters, The Washington Post reported:
Hvaldimir has suffered “massive injuries” from run-ins with boat propellers and fishing hooks, said Rich German, president of OneWhale. Now that he's been spending time in more heavily trafficked waters, the risk of being injured or killed by a boat is even greater, German said, adding that there were also fewer fish for him to eat in busier areas.
“It's a miracle he's survived,” German said.
Meanwhile, Wiig earlier said officials believed the whale had come from Russia and was trained by the Russian navy, which has “been known to train belugas to conduct military operations before.”
Russia has never addressed reports that the beluga could be a Kremlin spy. Still, the whales are likely trained to observe Western submarines.
The Barents Sea is a strategic area for Western and Russian submarine activity.
It is also the gateway to the Northern Sea Route, which shortens the trips between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Russia's Defense Ministry has denied the existence of the program, but the ministry had published an ad seeking dolphins for such purposes.
So, Hvaldimir appears to be a Russian spy whale ‘defector.' He should be treated with kindness and respect.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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