A Beluga Whale nicknamed Hvaldimir, after his strange harness prompted suspicions he was a Russian spy, has been found dead in the southwest of Norway.
The whale’s carcass was discovered floating off Risavika Bay in southern Norway on Saturday by a father and son who were out fishing, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported.
Hvaldimir, a combination of the Norwegian word for whale, “hval”, and the first name of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, was first spotted off Norway’s far northern coast in 2019.
His man-made harness, with what appeared to be a mount for a camera stamped with the words “Equipment St Petersburg”, fuelled speculation that he was a “spy whale“.
Norwegian officials said Hvaldimir may have escaped an enclosure and been trained by the Russian navy as he appeared to be accustomed to humans.
Moscow has never responded to the speculation.
