Hvaldimir died with a stick in his mouth. Was he connected to Russian intelligence?

On Monday, September 9, the Norwegian police announced that they had not been able to determine whether the death of the whale Hvaldimir was the result of direct human involvement. The investigation, initiated at the request of two animal rights organizations, was discontinued. One Whale and NOAH reported a possible crime and assumed that the whale was shot.

Hvaldimir had a stick in his mouth

The police informed the public about the findings of the investigation. “The autopsy showed that a stick 35 cm long and 3 cm wide was stuck in Hvaldimir’s mouth. The animal’s stomach was empty. In addition, most of his organs were inoperable,” it was reported.

At over 4 metres long and weighing 1.2 tonnes, Hvaldimir was 15 years old. That’s young for a beluga whale. This species can live to be 60 years old. The whale’s body was found on 31 August off the coast of southern Norway by a father and son fishing.

Hvaldimir the whale suspected of espionage

Hvaldimir got his name from a combination of the words “hval,” meaning whale, and the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The latter association came naturally when the whale was spotted in the Norwegian Sea in 2019 wearing a strange harness. The equipment, typically used to attach a camera, had the words “Equipment of St. Petersburg” written on it.

On the Marine Mind website we could read that Hvaldimir was very interested in people. He responded to hand signals. “Based on these observations, it seemed that Hvaldimir had arrived in Norway, crossing the border into Russian waters, where he had probably been held captive,” it was reported.

In Norway, it was suspected that Hvaldimir could have been used by the Russian Navy for espionage. It is no secret that Moscow uses marine mammals for defense purposes. Trained dolphins were stationed in the port of Sevastopol to protect Black Sea Fleet ships from attempted attacks from the sea.