Found dead on Saturday off the coast of Norway, the cetacean suspected of being a Russian spy was shot dead, according to two animal rights NGOs.
Who killed Hvaldimir? The subject of all fantasies, the beluga suspected of spying for the Kremlin found dead this weekend in southwest Norway, was shot dead. This is the theory put forward by Noah and One Whale, two Norwegian NGOs who announced that they had filed a complaint on Wednesday, September 4, asking the Norwegian police to open an investigation “criminal investigation” in order to shed light on the death of the animal.
A white whale described as young and healthy, Hvaldimir was found dead on Saturday, August 31, off the coast of Risavika. His body was taken to a local branch of the Norwegian Veterinary Institute on Monday for an autopsy. According to a spokeswoman for the institute, the report is awaited “within three weeks.”
“He had multiple gunshot wounds on his body,” “We are very happy to see the animal,” said Regina Crosby Haug, director of One Whale, who was able to see the animal’s remains on Monday. The NGO was created specifically to track the movements of the cetacean, which has become a celebrity in Norway. “The whale’s injuries are alarming and of a nature that cannot rule out foul play. They are shocking,” commented Noah leader Siri Martinsen, before adding: “When faced with suspicion of a criminal act, it is crucial that the police intervene quickly.”
«Equipment St Peterburg»
It was on Saturday, around 2:30 p.m., that the NGO Marine Mind, a competitor of One Whale, found the body of the cetacean. “There was no immediate indication of the cause of death,” stressed Sebastian Strand, the director of the NGO. “We have seen some marks, but it is too early to say.” According to Strand, some of the marks were likely the result of seabird predation, but others remain unexplained at this point.
The beluga was estimated to be between 15 and 20 years old at the time of its death, measuring 4 metres and weighing more than 1,200 kilos. “Hvaldimir”, spotted in April 2019 off the coast of the Arctic region of Finnmark, in the Far North of Norway, fascinated the public. Discovered with around its body an enigmatic harness equipped with a base to accommodate a small camera with the inscription «Equipment St Peterburg» printed in English on the plastic straps, the cetacean was quickly suspected of being a spy animal from neighboring Russia. A hypothesis that earned it the name Hvaldimir, a play on words associating the word “whale” (whale, in Norwegian) and the emblematic first name of the master of the Kremlin, Putin. Faced with speculation, Moscow has always remained silent.
