A beluga whale that captured international attention in 2019 after appearing off Norway's coast wearing a suspicious harness was indeed a runaway from Russia's military program. The harness, which could possibly hold a camera or weapon and was marked "Equipment St Petersburg," sparked widespread speculation about espionage, but the whale wasn't a spy, according to a marine scientist with extensive knowledge of Russian marine mammal programs who spoke to the BBC.
The revelation comes five years after the mysterious white whale, dubbed Hvaldimir by locals in a playful nod to hval, which is Norwegian for whale, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, first surfaced in Norwegian waters wearing equipment that sparked widespread media coverage and speculation about Russian military activities in the Arctic.
Researchers think this beluga whale could be a Russian weapon pic.twitter.com/ravc7sgYqS
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) April 30, 2019
Eve Jourdain, a researcher from the Norwegian Orca Survey, noted the whale's unusual behavior: "It was very obvious that this particular whale had been conditioned to be putting his nose on anything that looked like a target because he was doing it each time," she told the BBC. "But we have no idea what kind of facility he was in, so we don't know what he was trained for."
Dr. Olga Shpak, who researched marine mammals in Russia from the 1990s until returning to her native Ukraine in 2022, told the BBC that the whale was being trained to guard a naval base in the Arctic Circle before it escaped. "For me, it's 100% (certain)," she said in comments to the, ending years of speculation about the whale's origins.
A beluga whale with a harness that says "Equipment St. Petersburg" rubbed against a boat in Norway, officials there said, raising alarm it could belong to the Russian Navy.
The whale was tame and "used to get food served so that is why it has made contacts with the fishermen." pic.twitter.com/fKpAkYAwpQ
— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 29, 2019
According to Dr. Shpak, whose account is based on conversations with former colleagues in Russia, who she declined to name for their safety, the whale was originally captured in 2013 from the Sea of Okhotsk and was known as Andruha. The marine mammal was initially held at a St Petersburg dolphinarium before being transferred to the military program in the Arctic the following year.
"What I've heard from the guys at the commercial dolphinarium who used to have him was that Andruha was smart, so a good choice to be trained. But at the same time, he was kind of like a hooligan – an active beluga – so they were not surprised that he gave up on (following) the boat and went where he wanted to," Dr. Shpak explained.
The whale's apparent military connections were further supported by satellite imagery revealing what appear to be white whale pens near a submarine base in Murmansk, which may have been the beluga's former home. "The location of the beluga whales very close to the submarines and the surface vessels might tell us that they are actually part of a guarding system," said Thomas Nilsen from The Barents Observer.
While Russia has a documented history of training marine mammals for military purposes, dating back to the Soviet era, it has never officially acknowledged ownership of this particular whale. In 2019, Russian reserve colonel Viktor Baranets dismissed the spy allegations, stating: "If we were using this animal for spying, do you really think we'd attach a mobile phone number with the message 'Please call this number'?"
The whale's journey after its escape was closely monitored by Norwegian authorities, who arranged for it to be fed and tracked. Initially unable to catch live fish, Hvaldimir charmed visitors to Hammerfest by playfully interacting with their cameras and, in one memorable instance, even retrieving a dropped mobile phone from the water.
Over time, the beluga learned to feed independently and spent several years traveling south along Norway's coast, demonstrating remarkable adaptability to life in the wild. In May 2023, it was spotted off Sweden's coast, marking the furthest south it had ever ventured.
Police say the death of Hvaldimir, a beluga whale rumored to be a Russian spy, wasn't caused by human activity https://t.co/uVsLyUyLoQ pic.twitter.com/wbSDGn25z2
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 9, 2024
"The whale starts rubbing against the boat," said Joar Hesten, one of the fishermen who encountered the friendly mammal. "I heard about animals in distress that instinctively knew that they need help from humans. I was thinking that this is one smart whale."
The whale's remarkable journey ended when its body was discovered floating near Risavika on Norway's southwestern coast on September 1, 2024. While some activist groups initially suggested foul play, Norwegian police have dismissed claims that the whale was shot, stating there was no evidence of human involvement in its death. A post-mortem examination revealed that Hvaldimir/Andruha died after a stick became lodged in its mouth.
