Russia uses military dolphins to fight Ukraine, but this is nothing new

Russia has been (and has been) showing off an amazing display of weapons for months during its invasion of Ukraine. But it looks like he still has a lot of tools left to get out of the hat. The latter, according to United States Naval Institute (USNI) was to deploy military dolphins.

This may seem a little outlandish, but it is quite common. Both the United States and Russia have spent decades training marine animals for military purposes. Not only dolphins. They were also used seals, sea lions and beluga whales. It has been a long time since they were put into use; but based on the publication of the American Institute, it seems that this time the Putin government has resorted to military dolphins to protect its Black Sea Naval Base.

And this is not something recent. According to the statement, it was in February when two pens military dolphins and moved to the entrance to the port of Sevastopol, located on the river. Crimean peninsula. At USNI they know them because they discovered them through satellite imagery. Now why do they exist? cetacean soldiers and since when are they in the possession of Russia?

The history of fighting dolphins in Russia

During the Soviet Union (USSR), its Navy had research bases where scientists studied possible military use of some marine animals. It was the base of the Cossack Bay and was located near Sevastopol.

These scientists determined that dolphins, beluga whales, seals and sea lions were the most suitable.

The last two were very helpful for both carry tools to divers Navy, regarding detect underwater mines and torpedoes. The seals are also carried very low temperaturesso that they can be used in the coldest places. It is for this purpose that beluga whales are trained. However, it turned out that the seals are more skillful. postponing orders and their execution.

But, without a doubt, the most useful are fighting dolphins. They can do what beluga whales, seals and sea lions can do, but they are also capable of rescue soldiers wounded at sea, help recover lost materials and above all, their biggest difference is that they can defend ships or ports from enemy divers. In addition, both these and other marine animals can act like spiescarrying chambers.

For this reason, although the military program of the Soviet fleet lost momentum with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia did not forget about the usefulness of these cetaceans. Initially, when the USSR collapsed, military dolphins were given to Ukraine, which decided to use them again in 2012. Russia restored them in 2014.after the annexation of Crimea. But the curious thing is that soon after that they assured that they got rid of them. Presumably some kind of animal they died of natural causes and others were sold. It was even said that the cetaceans died after going on a hunger strike as a complaint about the change of country. Dolphins are very smart animals. It is extremely unlikely that they voluntarily went to their death for someone else’s patriotism.

All this was said at the time. However, according to the publication Guardian 2019, there are records that in 2016 the Russian Ministry of Defense bought a few bottlenose dolphins to a zoo in this country. These may be those that the United States claims are already in use. At the moment there is not much information about him. One thing is clear: if people do not deserve to participate in a war that they did not ask for, then military dolphins do not deserve it either.

lost beluga

In 2019, a beluga whale approached a fishing boat with curiosity. norwegian seas. His team confirmed that he was wearing a pendant that read “St. Petersburg Team”. For this reason, it was suspected that he might be part of the Russian military marine animals. In particular, this may be beluga spy and carried a camera attached to their seat belts. However, in this country they denied that they knew her.

Therefore the animal they christened as Hvaldimir, continued to swarm around the area, more and more often approaching all kinds of boats. It was clear that people did not touch him. A video was even circulated of him playing rugby with a sailor. However, precisely because she is so accustomed to people was in grave danger. On the one hand, because he could get hurt by the propellers of the boat. On the other hand, because she did not know how to feed herself, so she began to lose weight dangerously. To this day, as reported in IFLScienceis under the care of the Norwegian Fisheries Authority, so his health has improved.

However, this is another example of the damage done release of marine animals who know nothing but captivity. Such a fate can befall both this beluga and military dolphins, seals or sea lions. Or even worse. It’s not worth the risk, but it’s hard to get through to those who don’t think twice about starting a war. That’s the kind of people we are.