Police in Italy have arrested a Ukrainian man who is suspected of involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline system.
In September 2022, subsea blasts breached three out of the four parallel gas lines in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 systems, resulting in the largest manmade methane release in history. These giant lines were installed on the seabed of the Baltic to transport gas from Russian state producer Gazprom to customers in Germany, providing German industry with low-cost energy. German, Swedish and Danish investigators have all confirmed that the explosions were an act of sabotage.
The German inquiry into the cause of the blast continued for years, starting with the examination of a Ukrainian-chartered yacht operating out of Rostock. In June 2024, German officials issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian professional diver, identified only as Volodymyr Z. The suspect was believed to be in Poland, but departed before he could be arrested, according to prosecutors in Warsaw. The suspect, in a phone interview with Suddeutsche Zeitung, denied that he was aware of the plot or the warrant.
On Thursday, Germany’s federal prosecutor general said that Italian police have detained another Ukrainian suspect who is alleged to have participated in the attack. The individual, identified only as Serhii K., was arrested in Rimini, a resort destination on the Adriatic coast. The man faces charges of anti-constitutional sabotage, destroying infrastructure and causing an explosion, and will have to be extradited to Germany to stand trial – a process that may take time.
Ukraine’s government has consistently denied any involvement in or knowledge of a plot to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines. In the past, Ukraine has accused Russia of sabotaging Nord Stream 1 and 2 in order to cause disruption, even though Russia stands to gain from Nord Stream’s operation if the lines are ever restarted.
