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Whale with Harness Could Be Russian Weapon, Say Norwegian Experts
"We were going to put out nets when we saw a whale swimming between the boats," fisherman Joar Hesten told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "It came over to us, and as it approached, we saw that it had some sort of harness on it."
The strange behaviour of the whale, which was actively seeking out the vessels and trying to pull straps and ropes from the sides of the boats, as well as the fact it was wearing a tight harness which seemed to be for a camera or weapon, raised suspicions among marine experts that the animal had been given military-grade training by neighbouring Russia. Inside the harness, which has now been removed from the whale, were the words "Equipment of St. Petersburg".
The Russians are winning the race to weaponize sharks whales with laser beams.
Harnessed Beluga May Have Been Part of Quiet Russian Project
A white beluga whale made a splash last week when it was found to be wearing a harness by fisherman in Norway.
Norwegian fishermen discovered a beluga whale wearing a harness off the country’s northern coast last week. The fishermen were fascinated with how tame it was, but there might be a good reason that it was comfortable around humans. Scientists from Norway’s Institute of Marine Research suspect the whale and its harness may be part of an operation cooked up by the Russian military.
Because of the reported tightness of the harnass, scientists were concerned that the whale has been wearing the harness for a very long time which could be dangerous for it.
The scientists tracked down the whale near the town of Ingoy and attempted to remove its harness. Just as the fishermen had reported, the harness looked way too tight, according to Norwegian news outlet NRK
Audun Rikardsen, a professor at the Department of Arctic and Marine Biology at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsoe, northern Norway stated that the harness itself had a notation inside that reads "Equipment St. Petersberg" and includes a mount for an action camera (but no camera.) Audun contacted scholars in both Norway and Russia, all of which indicated it was not from research or a program any of them were aware of. Audun believes it was most likely the Russian Navy in Murmansk.
Russia does not have a history of using whales for military purposes but the Soviet Union had a full-fledged training program for dolphins.
The Soviet Union used a base in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula during the Cold War to train the mammals for military purposes such as searching for mines or other objects and planting explosives. The facility in Crimea was closed following the collapse of the Soviet Union, though unnamed reports shortly after the Russian annexation of Crimea indicated that it had reopened.
While such things are normally kept below the surface, there have been inklings of similar efforts recently
The Russian Defense Ministry published a public tender in 2016 to purchase five dolphins for a training program. The tender did not explain what tasks the dolphins were supposed to perform, but indicated they were supposed to have good teeth. It was taken offline shortly after publication.
Additional Coverage Here.
Google translation of a more in depth Norwegian article here.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @02:57AM (15 children)
Trump knew about this, that is why he eased up on the russian "wahles".
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:11AM (14 children)
And was it written in English to make it convincing? To me it sounds like a CIA story they get their "journalist" assets to publish. Of which there are unfortunately many in US satellite countries.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:29AM (5 children)
Yes, oddly enough. I figured it would be Cyrillic also.
Here's an image of the harness writing [timeincapp.com]
Although i would argue that CIA agents that make that kind of rookie mistake are subject to evolutionary pressures faster than the rest of us.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:39AM (1 child)
I doubt is anyone at that level. It is probably just a general bounty put out to cause shit and this is another "jesse smollet" level bs fake news result.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @06:11AM
The offensive-to-Islam video they brought out to blame for the "spontaneous attack" on the US embassy in Tripoli had a similar air of a C-team effort.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:42AM (1 child)
How do you connect that pic to this story?
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:19PM
I just googled the story until I got one with a picture of the harness writing in it.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @05:46PM
What kind of "amateur" manufacturer puts the logo on the side with the plastic injection holes?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday May 01 2019, @04:10AM (3 children)
Glad I'm not the only one who thought of that. Are we paranoid, or just paying attention?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Farkus888 on Wednesday May 01 2019, @07:27AM
I thought the same thing looking at the Venezuela story. Who doesn't assume every coup on the planet is the CIA though? Simplest explanation is that the whale got stuck in random garbage and was trying to scrape it off on any random nearby object. That gets a lot fewer clicks though.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday May 01 2019, @07:32AM
OTOH if you mount an operation in the open and purposefully plant glaring inconsistencies, then you can blame the other side for having tried to pull a false flag. "we russkies we no speak english not our stuff"
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 01 2019, @12:56PM
There is no level of paranoia which is unjustified anymore.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Wednesday May 01 2019, @06:37AM (1 child)
Off the shelf part intended for the international market?
I don't see the alleged "of" in the photo of the actual part, just a logo with EQUIPMENT and ST. PETERSBURG around it.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:23PM
Different stories say "Equipment St. Petersberg" and "Equipment of St. Petersberg" I don't see the 'of' in the picture.
I assumed that difference was just translation at first, but it looks like it isn't translated after all.
I suspect the 'of' is just someone's mind unconsciously adding it in to make it read better although it isn't on harness itself.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:30AM (1 child)
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:41AM
And if it really was carrying a "GoPro" mount, that would seem to increase the likelihood it's somebody else's project, unless the Russians are using such equipment.