Headlines announcing the arrival of a possible Russian spy dolphin soon circulated around the world as the beluga (dubbed Hvaldimir by locals) continued its Norwegian residency. And while Hvaldimir sadly died in September,

‘A whale deployed by Vladimir Putin as a Russian spy’ – it seems like a chapter of an alternative version of John le Carré’s novel ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’. It has long been alleged that a beluga whale was conducting maritime espionage for the Kremlin in the Arctic.

Five years ago, a friendly white beluga whale approached fisherman in the waters off Norway, and quickly cemented his status as a figure of international intrigue. Hvaldimir, as the whale came to be known,

Dr Olga Shpak, who researched marine life in Russia for decades said she was "100 per cent" certain of the whale's origins.