Ukrainian man arrested over Nord Stream pipeline attacks
By Rachel More and Matthias Williams
Berlin (Reuters) -A rather man was arrested in Italy on suspicion of coordinating the 2022 attacks on Nord Stream Gas Pipelines.
The explosions, which were seen as a sabotage action by both Moscow and the West, damaged three pipelines carrying gas from Russia to Europe, caused a major rise in the Ukrainian conflict and squeezed the energy materials on the continent. No one took responsibility for the explosions.
The arrest seems to be dealing with diplomatic discussions on how to end the war in Ukraine without giving the great concessions and areas of its territory to the United States and Russia.
The consecutive Ukrainian governments have seen the pipelines as a symbol and tool of European energy materials, which Russia has made it difficult to move against Moscow since Kiev’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014.
In February 2022, Russia launched a full -scale Ukrainian invasion and triggered the most deadly conflict of Europe in 80 years, and that more than 1 million people have been killed or injured.
German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said in a statement, “the bombing of pipelines, including criminal prosecution should be investigated. Therefore, it is good to make progress on this issue,” he said.
An official at the Ukrainian President Office said he could not comment because it was not clear who was arrested. The authority reiterated that Ukraine rejected any role in the explosions.
In a statement made by the prosecutor’s office, only Serhii K.
He and his offensive partners set out from Rostock on a sailing yacht to carry out the attack. He added that the ship was rented from a German company with the help of fake identity documents through intermediaries.
The authorities acted on a European arrest warrant for the suspect who faced an explosion, a constitutional sabotage and the destruction of important structures.
German prosecutors said in a statement that Carabinii officers were arrested in the state of Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy.
The Italian Carabinieri confirmed the arrest and said that the suspect was 49 years old but did not give any more details.
Mysterious explosions
In September 2022, one of the two lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was damaged by mysterious explosions with both lines of Nord Stream 1, which carried Russian gas to Europe.
He rejected that he had to do with attacks such as both the US and Ukraine and Russia. Moscow accused Western sabotage for explosions that have largely broken Russian gas materials into the lucrative European market without evidence.
Denmark and Sweden closed its investigations in February 2024 and left Germany as the only country to continue the case.
Danish officials concluded that “gas pipelines were the deliberate sabotage”, but “inadequate reasons to maintain the criminal case”, while pointing to the lack of jurisdiction of the Swedish investigation closed.
Washington Post and Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine said that the team, who had previously carried out the attack, was brought together by an old Ukrainian intelligence officer who rejected participation.
In January 2023, Germany raided a ship, which he said he might have been used to carry explosives, and said he believed that educated divers can be connected to the devices of the pipelines of about 70 to 80 meters deep.
According to the research of Germany, Denmark and Sweden, the boat rented through a registered company in Poland in Germany contained traces of octogen, the same explosives in the underwater explosion.
The German media reported that Germany has issued a European arrest against a Ukrainian diving instructor, alleged to be a part of the team that exploded the pipelines last year.
A few outlets referring to anonymous sources reported that German inspectors believed that the last man known to have lived in Poland was one of the divers that planted explosive devices to pipelines.
(Rachel More, Sarah Marsh, Giulio Piovaccari, Gavin Jones, Thomas Escritt, Tom Balmforth, Stine Jacobsen; by Matthias Williamsediting by Gareth Jones)
