A Beluga whale, whose unusual harness led to suspicions it was trained by Russia for espionage, has been found dead in Norway, according to an NGO that has tracked his movements.

Named “Hvaldimir” as a play on the Norwegian word for whale, “hval,” and his rumored connections to Moscow, the beluga first appeared off Norway’s far-northern Finnmark coast in 2019. At that time, Norwegian marine biologists removed a man-made harness, designed for an action camera, with “Equipment St. Petersburg” inscribed on the clasps.

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Norwegian authorities speculated that Hvaldimir might have escaped from an enclosure and possibly been trained by the Russian navy, as he seemed accustomed to human interaction. Moscow has never responded to the speculation about the whale being a “Russian spy.”

On Saturday, Marine Mind, an organization that has been tracking him, discovered his lifeless body off the southwest coast at Risavika. The NGO’s founder, Sebastian Strand, confirmed the discovery, adding that the cause of death is unknown, with no visible injuries found during the initial inspection. The whale’s remains have been stored in a cooled area for a necropsy by the veterinary institute to determine the cause of death. Estimated to be around 14 or 15 years old, Hvaldimir was young for a Beluga whale, which typically live between 40 to 60 years.

These whales, known to inhabit the icy waters near Greenland, northern Norway, and Russia, are often found in geopolitically significant areas like the Barents Sea, a region where Western and Russian submarine movements are closely monitored. The Barents Sea also serves as the gateway to the Northern Route, which shortens maritime journeys between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.