According to the American Naval Institute (USNI), the Russian army uses trained dolphins for military purposes in the Black Sea, a strategic maritime space in the war in Ukraine.
Based on satellite images, the institute claims to have spotted two enclosures of fighting dolphins in the naval base of Sevastopol, at the southern tip of Crimea.
This discovery is not really a surprise. Since the Cold War, Russians and Americans have been training dolphins to recover objects, detect mines or even deter enemy divers, explains the British newspaper The Guardian.
According to the USNI, the dolphins spotted in Sevastopol could be used to avoid an underwater attack against Russian ships.
A program that fell into the hands of the Russians
The Ukrainian Navy had developed its own combat dolphin program near Sevastopol, but this fell into Russian hands after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Two years later, the Russian Navy announced its intention to buy five other combat dolphins intended to join the Sevastopol base, reports The Guardian.
In 2018, satellite images had already documented the presence of Russian fighting dolphins in Tartous, Syria.
