Wildlife

Spy Whale

A Beluga whale spotted off the Swedish coast has been previously accused of spying for Russia. The several-metre-long white whale was first sighted a few years ago wearing a camera harness near Norway, fuelling suspicions it was being used for espionage.

It has since been nicknamed Hvaldimir, combining the words 'hval' (whale in Norwegian) and the common Russian first name Vladimir. When first spotted in 2019, the whale's harness was fitted with a base for a small camera with 'Equipment St. Peterburg' printed on the plastic strap.

The biologists who found Hvaldimir were able to remove the harness fixed around his head. The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries speculated at the time the whale had escaped from an enclosure where it was possibly trained by the Russian Navy since it was accustomed to human company and would approach ships.

Moscow has never officially commented on the case.