Germany issues arrest warrant for Ukrainian citizen over bombing of Nord Stream gas pipelines — ARD

According to the German outlets ARD, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit, this is Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Z., who allegedly recently stayed in Poland.

It was found that two more citizens of Ukraine, including a woman, were named as suspects by the investigators. They are also said to have taken part in the attacks, possibly as divers attaching explosives to pipelines.

According to new data, information about other suspects is based, in particular, on tips from other foreign intelligence. It was already known that in September 2022, those involved traveled the Baltic Sea on the German sailing yacht Andromeda.

It was not possible to establish the whereabouts of the suspect, Volodymyr; the investigators assumed that he last lived in a city west of Warsaw. Whether he has now returned to Ukraine is unknown.

According to Tagesschau, during a recent "brief telephone conversation", Volodymyr was surprised by such an accusation and denied involvement in the bombing. The publication did not specify what kind of conversation it was and with whom.

Germany requested legal assistance from Poland. It is not clear why Volodymyr was not detained there according to the rules of the European arrest warrant. In both countries, such a warrant is considered mandatory, and the detention was supposed to take place within 60 days. This period has already passed.

Earlier, Sweden and Denmark stopped the investigation of the case due to a lack of evidence.

Explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines

On September 27, 2022, a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was reported. A few hours later, Denmark and Sweden reported two leaks on the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. Two days later, the fourth leak was recorded. Both Russian gas pipelines are important for the transit of gas from the Russian Federation.

Germany and the EU suspected that the cause of the leak was sabotage. The EU has warned that any intentional violation of the European energy infrastructure is absolutely unacceptable and must be resolutely addressed.

Russia later blamed Britain for the bombings, which London dismissed as a lie of an "epic scale".

Denmark, Germany, and Sweden launched investigations into the breaches. However, Russia considers them biased and demands a new start.

In March 2023, the New York Times, citing "intelligence data verified by US officials," reported that the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year was carried out by a certain "pro-Ukrainian group."

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, rejected accusations that Ukraine was allegedly involved in the explosions.

Later, German publications also reported a "Ukrainian trail". The Times reported that Western intelligence has known the name of the private sponsor of the bombings from Ukraine for months, but his name is being withheld to protect Ukraine, in particular to avoid a public row with Germany, which has struggled with important military aid. According to the publication, this suspected Ukrainian is not related to the government.