"The Russian whale spy" appeared after boats in Norway

And recently, they found a Beluga with a very special special harness near its shores.

Audun Rikardsen, marine biologist, said the harness had a camera stand, as well as a label placing it in St. Petersburg.

Rikardsen explained that a fellow Russian scientist had told him that this was not the kind of device that Russian academics often use.

And Russia has a naval base in the region.

The allegedly trained beluga have repeatedly approached Norwegian vessels in Ingoya, an Arctic island 415 kilometers from Murmansk, where the Russian northern fleet is established. Belugas are native to arctic waters.

The Norwegian public broadcaster NRK has broadcast a video in which the beluga is released from the harness.

Professor Rikardsen told the BBC that the harness "was very tight around his head, in front of his pectoral fins and wearing pins". He also said that he had a GoPro bra, but not the camera.

"A Russian colleague told me that they were not doing these kinds of experiments, but she knows that the navy has been hunting Belugas for years and is training them, most likely depending on that" said Rikardsen.

Animals for military use

A Russian colonel, who has already written about the military use of marine mammals, dismissed Norway's concern for the beluga whale. But he did not deny that he could have escaped from the Russian Navy.

Interviewed by the Russian radio station Govorit Moskva, Colonel Viktor Baranets said: "If we used animals for spying, do you really think we would affix a tag with a cell phone number carrying the message" call this number? "".

"We have military dolphins who play a role in the fighting, we did not hide them," said the colonel.

"In Sevastopol (Crimea) we have a center for military dolphins, and we train them in various tasks, from seabed badysis to the protection of a marine area, in addition to the death of foreign divers and the setting of mines on the hulls of foreign vessels. "

The center for Crimean dolphins was under Ukrainian control, but was occupied by the Russian navy in 2014, when Russian forces invaded the peninsula.

Professor Rikardsen, who teaches at the University of Tromso, said that "belugas, like dolphins and killer whales, are very intelligent: they are Arctic animals and very social, they can be trained like a dog" .

Marine fauna formed

During the Cold War, the US Navy set up a special training program for dolphins and sea lions in California.

The San Diego-based US Navy Marine Mammal Program uses California bottlenose dolphins and sea lions to locate mines and other dangerous objects on the ocean floor.

The Navy website also states that the animals are used to detect unauthorized persons under the water that could harm American ships.

BBC.