Russians 'using army of trained dolphins' to protect naval bases

The Russian Navy reportedly uses "trained dolphins" to protect naval bases in the Black Sea.

HI Sutton, a defence analyst, and writer for USNI News, took to his Twitter to share his article about the matter.

He said that Sevastopol, which is the most significant Russian naval base in the Black Sea, could be using the trained dolphins to defend the base from underwater sabotages from warships by Ukrainian forces.

In another tweet, he shared satellite imagery of two "dolphin pens" stationed at the entrance of Sevastopol harbour, which is sheltered inside a sea wall.

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The Russian Navy supposedly put them there in February around the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.

This wouldn't be the first time the Russian Navy developed marine mammal programmes to give them military assistance.

Within the Cold War, the Soviet Navy administered dolphin training at the Kazachya Bukhta unit near Sevastopol, which is where it remains today.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the unit was then transferred to the Ukrainian military, all before coming under the Russian Navy's control amid the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Since that time, Russia's marine mammal programmes have grown, with both seals and beluga whales also being utilised.

Beluga whalesiStock

According to a BBC report, a trained beluga whale had managed to get lost in Norway in April 2019. The moment caught media attention because beluga whales are rarely spotted that far south of the Article. The whale also reportedly had a harness wrapped around its body.

The beluga was also called 'Hvaldimir' by locals and was believed to be an escapee from the Russian Navy programme.

Elsewhere, Forbes addressed 2018 satellite images that appeared to highlight another dolphin pen that was stationed at a Russian naval base was sent to Tartus, Syria, to help them with their war.

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