Nord Stream
A arrest with political explosiveness
German investigators have tracked down a Ukrainian who is said to have been involved in the attack on the North Stream pipeline. That could be politically delicate.
You will be satisfied in Karlsruhe. For the federal prosecutor, the arrest of a Ukrainian suspect in connection with the attack on the North stream-Pipeline a success. In Berlin it looks different: the matter could have pitfalls for the federal government.
On the one hand, Berlin can now point out that the German authorities since the Attacks In September 2022, seriously stuck behind the investigation, which was doubted by some skeptics. In other Baltic Sea states such as Sweden and Denmark, the investigations had already been discontinued.
On the other hand, difficult political debates can be expected if it should solidify that a Ukrainian was responsible for the attack. The greatest damage to be accepted would be if the government is still involved in the government in Kiev or even President Wolodymyr Selenskyi. At least the Ukrainian military is said to have approved the campaign. The impending interrogations of the suspect are therefore explosive. And of all places at a time, since it may be about peace discussions between the Ukraine and Russia could come.
There was always suspicion in the room that Germany could carry out the investigation out of concern for political entanglements. In August 2023 the then Chancellor promised Olaf Scholz: “We will find out who it was, as far as we can.” He added: “And we won’t be because we do not like the result that does not cause the indictment.” At that time, the attacks on the gas pipelines north stream 1 and 2 were back in the Baltic Sea for a year-and even then there was speculation about traces in Ukraine. “We absolutely want to educate this,” said Scholz. “Nobody can hope for consideration.”
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In the summer of 2024 it became known that the Federal Attorney General had a first arrest warrant at the Federal Court of Justice. He was directed against a Ukrainian citizen, a professional diver who is said to have attached the explosives to the tubes on the seabed at a depth of 80 meters. It is obviously not the man who has now been arrested. The current suspect is said not to have belonged to the divers, but have taken on a coordinating function on board the boat, reports the “Spiegel”.
The Federal government At the time, the arrest warrant considered a sign that Scholz had held word. The investigation would have “highest priority,” the then vice government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner. Specifically, one does not want to comment on the matter, but one could say that “the investigation according to the law and law and without reputation of the people is conducted”.
And even now, satisfaction is great: Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig (SPD) called the arrest a “very impressive success”. It is a “alleged mastermind” of sabotage. “The blasting of the pipelines must be informed, also criminal,” said the SPD politician. “That’s why it is good that we are doing it.”
They are still delicate. Because they pose potential for conflict in several places – especially in relation to Ukraine.
North Stream attack: suspicious opposition
It was therefore obvious that the opposition always put the investigation under suspicion, since the federal government set one or the other stop sign to avoid political entanglements. “It would be a scandal if state rates mean that traces to Ukraine were ignored and the results of the investigation were held back,” said Klaus Ernst, Member of the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which was still represented in the Bundestag at the time.
President Selenskyi denied that his government had something to do with the attack. But the fact that at least two suspects – the diver and the now arrested – come from Ukraine and at least one of them had apparently also left there, draws attention back to Kiev.
So far, it has been tried in Berlin to suffocate assumptions about influence in the germ. The investigation on the one hand and the German support for Ukraine on the other hand had nothing to do with each other. Completely regardless of the result of which such investigations led, there is no change in the fact that Russia wages a war of international law against Ukraine in 2024 in Berlin. Nothing changed in this position under the government of Friedrich Merz. But what if the government of Kiev is to be involved?
The fact that the suspect has now been arrested in Italy at least prevents the man from being delivered between Berlin and Kiev. Such a procedure runs under the leadership of the federal prosecutor, but of course such questions have already become the subject of political discussions.
Did Poland help the suspect?
The investigation was also delicate for the German-Polish relationship. In addition to Ukraine, Poland was always one of the sharpest critics of the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2. Poland to the attacks is not yet detectable, but at least conceivable for the destruction of the tubes. And in 2024 it was already noticeable that the main suspect could obviously leave from Poland to Ukraine in good time after the German arrest warrant was issued. The Polish side explained this with a failure of the German investigators because the suspect was not entered in the Schengen Register. Therefore, there was no legal basis to stop him at the border.
Now another man has been arrested in the Rimini region. Maybe surrounded by German tourists, for the Italy Adriac coast is a preferred travel destination.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
