Bulgarian diver Martin Radev filmed his encounters with a famous beluga in the Norwegian fjords in Soere. Martin was there doing maintenance diving work on salmon fish farms when he first saw the animal.

The beluga's story is shrouded in mystery. When the fishermen first spotted the mammal in 2019 off the coast of Norway, they found a belt for an underwater camera that had the inscription "Equipment St. Petersburg" on it. This triggered a series of speculations, and led to his current name "Hvaldimir". The beluga was named in a national media poll by putting together "Hval", which means "whale" in Norwegian, and the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It is believed that the beluga was trained by the Russian military and comes from the Russian Navy's Marine Mammal Combat Training Center in Murmansk. Media outlets reported that Russia has trained belugas in for military operations in the past.

Martin Radev said that when he informed his colleagues about the mammal, they laughed and said that it was definitely "Agent James Belugov", as they named it on previous encounters.

The mammal is certainly used to human presence. In 2019, it pulled a mobile phone out of a young lady's pocket and returned it to its shocked owner. In the same year, the beluga managed to take a knife from a diver, later stole a kayaker's camera, and played with a rugby ball washed up in the waters off the Norwegian coast.

"Agent James Belugov" is now engaged in more serious activities. He has been "working" almost daily with Bulgarian divers in the Norwegian fjords over the past few months.

As this video shows, the mammal even tried to help the filmer in his underwater work. Martin said that the beluga "monitors" their work process daily.

"We accept it as our colleague, but also as a pet. It seems to accept us as part of his family. Whenever we worked in the area, the beluga came to perform 'quality control'", he joked.

The filmer also said that at first he was scared by it, but after a few minutes, he realised that it was not aggressive and rather wanted to make contact. He describes the encounters he has had as "playing with a pet dog".

When asked about how the animal can be protected, the diver, who is already in Bulgaria, said that the beluga is practically a media star in Norway and everyone loves it.

That's probably what a super-intelligent male beluga whale, first spotted in 2019 off the coast of Norway, would present himself if he could talk.

On the Internet, however, he is better known as Hvaldimir, named in a national media poll after a play on the Norwegian word for whale "hval" and the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hvaldimir's story is still shrouded in mystery. Three years ago, he appeared near fishermen from Norway. Around the body of the large marine mammal, anglers saw a belt for an underwater camera and the inscription "Equipment St. Petersburg".

This gave rise to a series of speculations, and his baptismal name Hvaldimir. It is believed that the beluga was actually an escaped specimen from the Russian Navy's Marine Mammal Combat Training Center in Murmansk.

Satellite images showing special cages for bottlenose dolphins and belugas near a Russian naval base have further fueled speculation that Khvaldimir is in fact... a Russian deserter.

James Belugov is certainly used to human presence. In 2019, he pulls a mobile phone out of a young lady's pocket and returns it to its shocked owner. In the same year, the beluga managed to take a diving knife from a diver, later stole a kayaker's camera and played with a rugby ball washed up in the waters off the Norwegian coast.

Agent James Belugov is now engaged in more serious activities. For several months he has been "working" almost daily with Bulgarian divers in the Norwegian fjords. Belugov clearly has feelings for Bulgaria.

A few months ago, the Bulgarian diver Martin Radev filmed the mammal trying to "help him" in the underwater work.

Radev told me that agent Belugov "monitors" the work process almost daily.

"We accept him as our colleague, but also as a pet" adds the diver.