Ukrainian suspect in 2022 Nord Stream pipeline blasts arrested in Italy

Nord Stream pipeline blast

The explosions severely damaged three pipelines of both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, carrying gas from Russia to Europe. The act of sabotage, which happened amid the increasing tensions between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine and the European sanctions, was initially blamed on Moscow.

Nord Stream was crucial for the supply of Russian gas to Europe. (Photo: AP)

International investigations

Denmark and Sweden closed their investigations in February 2024, leaving Germany as the only country continuing to pursue the case.

Danish authorities concluded there was “deliberate sabotage of the gas pipelines” but found “insufficient grounds to pursue a criminal case”, while Sweden closed its investigation citing a lack of jurisdiction.

Successive Ukrainian governments had seen the pipelines as a symbol of, and vehicle for, Russia’s hold over European energy supplies that Kyiv argued made it hard to act against Moscow ever since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Directly involved in the explosions

German investigators believe the suspect, who faces charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and destruction of important structures, coordinated the attack and was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines.

There are also reports that the man, last known to have lived in Poland, was one of the divers who planted explosive devices on the pipelines.

He and his accomplices had set off from Rostock on Germany’s northeastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack, it said. The vessel had been rented from a German company with the help of forged identity documents via middlemen, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.

The 49-year-old suspect had a European arrest warrant issued against him and Carabinieri officers, part of the Italian paramilitary force, arrested him overnight in the province of Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast, according to the German prosecutors’ statement.

“The bombing of the pipelines must be investigated, including through criminal prosecution. Therefore, it is good that we are making progress in this regard,” said German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig in a statement.

‘Ukrainian official led the operation’

In November 2023, an investigative report by The Washington Post and Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine had claimed that Colonel Roman Chervinsky, a counterintelligence officer in the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) was the mastermind behind the Nord Stream pipeline blasts.

In January 2023, Germany raided a ship that it said may have been used to transport explosives and told the United Nations it believed trained divers could have attached devices to the pipelines at about 70 to 80 metres deep.

The boat, leased in Germany via a Poland-registered company, contained traces of octogen, the same explosive that was found at the underwater blast sites, according to the investigations by Germany, Denmark and Sweden.

German media reported last year that Germany had issued a European arrest warrant against a Ukrainian diving instructor who was allegedly part of the team that blew up the pipelines.

The arrest comes just as Kyiv is engaged in fraught diplomatic discussions with the United States over how to end the war in Ukraine without giving away major concessions and swathes of its own territory to Russia.

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