Beluga whale Hvaldimir, who was suspected by Western countries of spying for Russia, has died.
As it turned out, the cause of the animal's death was a bacterial infection.
RIA Novosti reports this, citing information received from the police in the southeastern region of Norway.
The Norwegian agency received the results of the autopsy of the beluga whale, carried out by the Veterinary Institute.
The head of the police department said that a branch was stuck in the animal's mouth. The foreign body could later have caused a bacterial infection that killed the beluga.
"Spy Whale"
Blukha was discovered in Norway back in 2019. The animal was wearing a special harness with the logo of one of the St. Petersburg companies.
The beluga whale was christened Hvaldimir (the name is derived from the word "hvald", which means whale in Norwegian, and the second half, taken from the name of the Russian president).
Rumors began to circulate in Norway that the animal had escaped from Russian captivity and that it had allegedly been used for espionage.
On August 31, the whale's carcass was found and an investigation into the cause of its death was conducted in Norway.
