As the war drags on, the Russian and Ukrainian armies use all possible formulas to get a little advantage on the battlefield. The latest idea of the Russian forces, crazy as it may seem, has been to use dolphins to protect their base of Sevastopol, in the annexed Crimea.
According to sources from the British government, who have warned that this practice was already used during the Cold War, these dolphins are specially trained to protect the post from divers or spies who might approach.
Britain's Defense Ministry explained in a regular update on Russia's invasion of Ukraine that Russia had made "major" upgrades to its main Black Sea base since summer 2022.
"This device includes at least four layers of netting and floating barriers at the entrance to the port. In recent weeks, these defenses have most likely been reinforced by increased numbers of trained marine mammals," the ministry wrote on Twitter.
The ministry reports that "in Arctic waters, the [Russian] Navy also uses beluga whales and seals," adding that "Russia has trained animals for a wide range of missions, but most likely those in the port of Sevastopol are intended to counter enemy divers".
According to the ministry, there are images showing that the aquatic mammal pens in the port have "nearly doubled" and that it is "very likely to contain bottlenose dolphins."
The use of marine mammals for military purposes is an age-old practice that several armies have resorted to, including the United States and Russia, which trained them to detect submarines, mines, and detect suspicious objects or people near ports and ships.
Crimea has housed a training center for marine mammals since 1965. After the fall of the USSR in 1991, this center was closed and its dolphins were sold to Iran, according to Russian media. The Ukrainian army had reopened the center in 2012, but after the annexation of the peninsula, it came under the control of Moscow.
In April 2022, the United States Naval Institute (USNI) claimed, based on satellite photos, that Russia had moved two dolphin enclosures to its Crimean base at the time of the launch of its military offensive in Ukraine.
Crimea serves as a rear base for Russian forces, particularly for sending reinforcements and maintaining equipment. It is a regular target of Ukrainian attacks, including drones.
