The strange return of the Russian “spy whale” off the coast of Sweden

A mysterious whale, once suspected of being a Russian “spy”, has been sighted again in recent days.

Known locally as Hvaldimirthe mammal was first seen swimming near Norway in 2019. It has now been seen in Swedish waters.

He still has a suit of armor that was reportedly fitted to him in Russia.

After years of slowly moving south from the northern tip of Norway, the whale has accelerated its movements out of Norwegian waters in recent months, according to OneWhale, an organization that monitors its movements.

The reason behind his sudden trip south was unclear, but there are a number of possibilities.

The new observation

A marine biologist from OneWhale, Sebastian Strand, noted that there could be a number of reasons for the recent change in the whale’s movements.

“We don’t know why it’s moved so fast at this point,” especially since then It moves away “very quickly from its natural environment”Strand told the AFP agency.

Strand believes there are two possible explanations for his change in behavior.

One of them are the high levels of hormoneswhich could be “driving her to find a mate.”

could be another related to lonelinessHe added: “Belugas are a very social species, they may be looking for other belugas.”

These mammals mostly live in the frigid waters of the Arctic, around Greenland, Russia, Alaska and northern Norway, with some migrating in the summer.

Is he a spy?

The beluga is domesticated and first approached Norwegian ships near Ingoya Island four years ago.

The island is there 415 km from Murmanskwhere is the base Russian Northern Fleet.

She was discovered wearing a harness fitted with a GoPro camera mount and an inscription that read “Team St. Petersburg.”

The find sparked an investigation by Norway’s intelligence services, who told the BBC she was likely trained by the Russian military.

Since then, the whale has become locally known as Hvaldimirin a play on words between the Norwegian term for whale, hvaland the name of the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

In Moscow has never officially responded to the claim. that Hvaldimir was trained by the Russian army.

Russia has previously denied the existence of a program that tries to train marine mammals to become spies.

“If we were using this animal to spy, do you really think we would put a phone on it that said ‘Please call this number?'” joked a Russian reserve colonel, Viktor Baranets, in 2019.