According to the American Naval Institute (USNI), the Russian army uses trained dolphins for military purposes in the Black Sea, a strategic sea area in the war in Ukraine.
Using satellite images, the institute claims to have discovered two enclosures with combat dolphins at the Sevastopol naval base on the southern tip of Crimea.
This discovery is not really a surprise. Since the Cold War, Russians and Americans have been training dolphins to salvage objects, detect mines or even deter enemy divers, explains British newspaper The Guardian.
According to the USNI, the dolphins sighted in Sevastopol could be used to prevent an underwater attack on 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 it fell into Russian hands after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Two years later, the Russian Navy announced its intention to buy five more combat dolphins to join the base in Sevastopol, reports The Guardian.
Satellite images had already documented the presence of Russian combat dolphins in Tartous, Syria, in 2018.