The famed "Russian spy" beluga whale was found dead in the Stavanger area of Norway last week, according to a statement by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, and an autopsy has been ordered to find out if he was deliberately killed.
The whale, discovered in 2019 off the coast of Norway, became a international phenomenon after it was seen wearing a harness with "Equipment of St. Petersburg" written on it, creating speculation that it might be linked to Russian espionage.
The whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir after the Norwegian word for whale, hval, and the whale’s connection to Russia, was found dead on August 31. Initial official reports did not indicate a cause of death.
But NOAH, a Norwegian animal rights group, and One Whale, a group created to track Hvaldimir, released a joint statement saying there are "strong indications that he may have been harmed by people.”
After viewing the body on September 2, Regina Crosby Haug, the head of One Whale, told the AFP news agency that the whale "had multiple bullet wounds around his body." Several veterinarians and biologists viewed images of Hvaldimir’s body and also indicated to One Whale and NOAH that he had been harmed by people.
Hvaldimir’s body was sent on September 2 to undergo an autopsy, with a report expected in around three weeks, according to a spokesperson at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute.
Hvaldimir had aroused speculation about Russian spying since his discovery. According to Joergen Ree Wiig of the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate in 2019, even Norwegian military officials were interested in the whale’s origins.
Wiig said that the harness that Hvaldimir was wearing when he was discovered had a camera mount but no camera. The harness was apparently removed at some point after he was first seen in the Arctic Sea.
While Russia does not have a known history of using whales for military purposes, Dmitry Glazov, the deputy head of a beluga whale program who works at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Interfax in April 2019 that the Russian military may be working with belugas.
Moscow has never issued any official reaction to speculation that he could have been used as a Russian spy.