A beluga whale believed to have been trained to spy for Russia was found dead in Norwegian waters on Saturday, five years after making the local coast his home.
The lifeless body of Hvaldimir was discovered by a teenage fisherman and his father near the town of Risavika on Saturday morning, according to marine conservationists from the nonprofit Marine Mind.
“Our team arrived to find Hvaldimir floating peacefully in the water,” the organization wrote in a social media post. “It is not immediately clear what caused his death, a necropsy will be conducted to determine his early passing.”
Hvaldimir, whose name is a pun featuring the Norwegian word for “whale” and Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s name, first drew attention in 2019 when he appeared off Norway’s northern coast sporting a harness with a Go-Pro.
Several clips on the harness were labeled “Equipment St. Petersburg,” fueling a theory that Hvaldimir was trained by the Russian military.
Russia has a track record of training marine animals like dolphins and beluga whales, a practice that dates back to the Soviet Union and continues today. The US Navy has also trained dolphins to clear mines and defend against divers.
Marine Mind, which has been largely dedicated to caring for Hvaldimir since his appearance, said it knows little about the beluga whale’s past and can’t confirm whether Russia captured him before.
“Hvaldimir was very interested in people and responded to hand signals,” the organization said on its website. “Based on these observations, it appeared as if Hvaldimir arrived in Norway by crossing over from Russian waters, where it is presumed he was held in captivity.”
But if he was trained by the Kremlin, Hvaldimir seemed to have defected, gradually traveling south toward Norway’s more populated regions over the last four years.
He quickly gained celebrity status as videos surfaced of him gently interacting with people, lifting his head out of the water to greet residents and bringing them gifts in his mouth. In late 2019, he was filmed playing fetch with a rugby ball.
Marine Mind said Hvaldimir was found multiple times with scars from accidental boat collisions after showing up, but that he was a resilient animal who was adapting to life with humans.
His death was a shock to the team, they told local broadcaster NRK.
Hvaldimir was believed to be about 15 years old, and beluga whales can live up to 60 years in the wild.
A resident, Dag Anfindsen, told NRK that he had spotted Hvaldimir in healthy condition just a day before his death, observing the whale diving and swimming for several minutes.
Marine Mind and the Russian defense ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
Hvaldimir’s death comes amid growing tensions in an already frosty relationship between Norway and Russia due to the Ukraine war.
Norway is an active member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has been intensifying drills and exercises in the region to prepare for a heightened possibility of war with Russia.
US allies in northeastern Europe, particularly the Nordic and Baltic nations, have been vocal about resisting Russia and strengthening their defense industries. In April, Oslo announced it would nearly double its defense budget with an expansion of $56 billion.
