A beluga whale has been sighted in Hunnebostrand, off the southwest coast of Sweden, which could possibly be a spy trained by the Russian Navy..

This is not the first time the animal has been spotted off the coast: in 2019, it was seen in Norway in a team with the sign “Equipment St Petersburg” (“Equipment St. Petersburg”), which caused espionage speculation.

The whale moved slowly along the upper half of the Norwegian coastline for more than three years before suddenly speeding up to move to Sweden.

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The specialist suggested that the whale, which is most likely 13-14 years old, is looking for a mate or relatives, since beluga whales are a very social species..

The nearest population of beluga whales is on the Svalbard archipelago, located in the middle between the northern coast of Norway and the north pole.

The Norwegians gave the whale the nickname Hvaldimir - a pun on the theme of "

When the whale first appeared in the Norwegian Arctic, marine biologists from the Norwegian Fisheries Authority removed its collar..

It was not possible to mount an action camera, and the inscription “Equipment St. Petersburg” is printed on the plastic fasteners.

Directorate representatives suggested that Khvaldimir could have escaped from the enclosure and may have been trained in the Russian navy as he seems to be used to people.

Moscow has never issued an official response to Norwegian suggestions that the animal could be a "

The Barents Sea is a strategic geopolitical territory where Western and Russian submarines are monitored.

It is also the gateway to the Northern Sea Route, which shortens sea travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans..

Sebastian Strand said the whale's health 'seemed to be very good' in recent years and he has been harvesting wild fish under Norwegian salmon farms..

At the same time, it is more difficult for Hvaldimir to find food in Sweden, which has worried biologists, because the whale has already lost weight..

Beluga whales, which can reach a size of about six meters and live from 40 to 60 years, usually inhabit the icy waters around Greenland, Northern Norway and Russia..

In December last year, it became known that a Russian spy was detained in German intelligence: he was supposed to find out for the Russian Federation data on the location of artillery positions and air defense positions of the Ukrainian army..