The suspect was arrested in Croatia a yr after one other, an ex-army officer, was charged.
Printed On 19 Aug 2026
A second Ukrainian suspect alleged to have been concerned within the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline blasts has been arrested in Croatia and might be extradited to Germany, German prosecutors stated on Wednesday.
The German authorities welcomed the arrest of the person, recognized as Vladimir Z, on Wednesday.
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“We’re merely glad that the federal prosecutor’s workplace is making progress in these investigations, as a result of it’s essential that the bombing of the pipelines be clarified as effectively,” Ministry of Justice spokesman Nicholas Limmer informed reporters in Berlin.
The primary suspect within the case, former Ukrainian military officer Serhii Okay, was charged by prosecutors in July with orchestrating the blasts whereas appearing on behalf of Ukrainian state entities. The Ukrainian nationwide, who was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and transferred to Germany in November, has denied any involvement within the blasts close to the Danish island of Bornholm.
Authorities in Kyiv have stated they didn’t have sufficient info to reply intimately to the German allegations.
Germany’s federal prosecutors’ workplace stated Vladimir Z was arrested within the Croatian metropolis of Pula by native police forces appearing on a European arrest warrant.
The prosecutors stated he was a educated scuba diver who was a part of a bunch led by Serhii Okay that planted explosives focusing on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gasoline pipelines.
Russia and Western international locations have described the September 2022 explosions, which adopted Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier that yr, as sabotage.
The explosions broken the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, an important route for Russian gasoline exports to Europe, in addition to the Nord Stream 2 department, which had but to enter service.
On the time, Moscow had lately halted gasoline deliveries through Nord Stream 1, blaming Western sanctions and technical points, although Europe accused it of weaponising vitality provides.
Poland has lengthy opposed the Nord Stream pipelines, viewing them as an try by Russia to make use of its huge vitality assets to achieve leverage throughout Europe.
German prosecutors have stated the goal of the alleged assault was to completely halt gasoline deliveries by the pipelines and thereby forestall Russia from utilizing income from the pure gasoline commerce to finance its struggle effort.
German courts have handled the case as falling inside their jurisdiction as a result of the broken pipelines finish within the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and their loss affected Germany’s vitality safety and inner security.
