A beluga whale found off Norway's coast wearing a Russian harness most likely escaped from the Russian navy, according to a Norwegian expert.
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries said "Equipment St Petersburg" was written on the harness strap, which features a mount for an action camera.
Beluga whale with harness Source: AP
Fisheries spokesman Joergen Ree Wiig said a Norwegian fisherman managed to remove the harness from the mammal.
Mr Wiig said "people in Norway's military have shown great interest" in the harness.
Russia has a naval base in the region around Murmansk and a professor at the Department of Arctic and Marine Biology at the Arctic University of Norway Audun Rikardsen said he believes "it is most likely that [the] Russian Navy in Murmansk" is involved.
It was not clear what the whale was being trained for, or whether it was part of Russian military activity in the region.
Mr Rikardsen said other Russian and Norwegian scientists told him they did know of any program or experiments using beluga whales.
"This is a tame animal that is used to get food served so that is why it has made contacts with the fishermen," he said.
"The question is now whether it can survive by finding food by itself. We have seen cases where other whales that have been in Russian captivity doing fine," he added.
