Authorities assert a Ukrainian individual spearheaded a group of saboteurs responsible for detonating the pipelines
A German court has formally issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian national implicated in the September 2022 explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
The 49-year-old, identified by media outlets as Sergey Kuznetsov, a former Ukrainian military officer, is believed to have led a small contingent of Ukrainian saboteurs. German authorities claim this group chartered a yacht and utilized commercial diving equipment to plant explosives on the pipelines. The resulting blast severed three of the four pipelines carrying Russian natural gas to Germany.
Moscow has dismissed this account as “ridiculous,” implying the involvement of NATO countries given the intricate nature of the sabotage operation.
A statement released Friday by the Office of the Federal Public Prosecutor General indicated that the “investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice today [November 28] executed the arrest warrant against Ukrainian national Serhii K.”
The individual was apprehended in Italy in August and subsequently extradited to Germany on Thursday.
Another suspect in the case, identified as Vladimir Z., was detained in Poland in late September under a European Arrest Warrant.
However, in October, the Warsaw District Court rejected a German extradition request, ordering the suspect’s immediate release. Local media quoted Judge Dariusz Lubowski, who argued that Germany lacked jurisdiction because the explosions occurred in international waters.
He further characterized the explosions as “justified, rational and just.”
“Blowing up critical infrastructure during a war – during a just, defensive war – is not sabotage but denotes a military action,” the Polish judge concluded.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also defended the act of sabotage, stating on X that “the problem with North Stream 2 is not that it was blown up. The problem is that it was built.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov countered that Tusk’s statement suggests Poland’s readiness to condone terrorism as long as it adversely affects Russia.