UK military spies have revealed that Russia is reportedly training combat dolphins in Crimea as a potential measure to counter Ukrainian forces.
British military spies on Friday said Russia appears to be training combat dolphins in the annexed Crimean Peninsula to counter Ukrainian forces.
In its latest update on the conflict, UK Defense Intelligence said the Russian Navy had invested heavily in security at the Black Sea Fleet’s main base at Sevastopol since last year.
“This includes at least four layers of nets and booms across the harbor entrance. Recently, these defenses have highly likely also been augmented by an increased number of trained marine mammals,” it added.
The animals were “likely intended to counter enemy divers,” it added.
The update said that the Russian Navy had used Beluga whales and seals for various missions in Arctic waters.
In 2016, Russia’s defense ministry sought to buy five dolphins to revive its Soviet-era use of the highly intelligent cetaceans for military tasks.
The Soviet Union and the United States used dolphins during the Cold War, training them to detect submarines, mines, and spot suspicious objects or individuals near harbors and ships.
A retired Soviet colonel informed at the time that Moscow even trained dolphins to plant explosive devices on enemy vessels.
They knew how to detect abandoned torpedoes and sunken ships in the Black Sea, said Viktor Baranets, who witnessed military dolphin training in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.
Miroslava Salazar with AFP
