Sabotage: Nord Stream attack: Ukrainian wanted on arrest warrant

In the case of the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines almost two years ago, the Federal Prosecutor General is looking for a Ukrainian who is said to have fled from Poland to his home country. The Polish public prosecutor’s office has received a European arrest warrant from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office to arrest a suspect, a spokeswoman for the General Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw told the German Press Agency.

The suspect is said to be Wolodymyr Z., a Ukrainian citizen who was last in Poland. However, investigators did not find him at his place of residence, said the spokeswoman. She added: “The man crossed the border between Poland and Ukraine at the beginning of July.” According to “Tagesschau”, German prosecutors approached the Polish authorities in June with a European arrest warrant.

Three suspects are said to be divers

“Die Zeit”, the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and the ARD reported that the man and two other Ukrainian nationals – a man and a woman – were suspected of the crime. According to the reports, they were involved in the attacks. They may have attached the explosives to the pipelines as divers, it was said. The information now published is also based on “tips from a foreign intelligence service”. When asked, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office did not want to comment on the media reports.

Several explosions damaged and interrupted the two gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 at the end of September 2022. The explosions were registered near the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. A short time later, four leaks were discovered on three of the four lines of the Nord Stream pipelines. Russian natural gas had previously flowed to Germany through Nord Stream 1. Nord Stream 2 was not yet in operation due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the political disputes that followed.

No entry in Schengen list of wanted persons

The suspect’s departure was possible because the German side had not made an entry in the Schengen register, which lists those wanted under a European arrest warrant, said the spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office in Warsaw. She added: “Volodymyr Z. crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border before he was arrested, and the Polish border guards had neither the information nor the basis to arrest him, as he was not listed as a wanted person.”

Previous investigations had focused on a sailing yacht on which traces of explosives were discovered in July 2023. It was suspected that the “Andromeda” may have been used to transport the explosives. According to reports, investigators assume that the sabotage squad on board the boat presumably consisted of five men and one woman. The group is said to have rented the boat by presenting forged documents.

Only Germany is investigating

After the attack, the question quickly arose as to how the explosives had been placed in order to damage the pipelines. Experts believed it was likely that trained divers could have placed the explosives at the locations. According to media reports, the Ukrainian wanted on an arrest warrant is said to be a diving instructor. Authorities in several countries began investigations after the attack. Denmark and Sweden have since dropped the proceedings.

For a long time, there were various speculations about the perpetrators and the masterminds. For months, there was only a small circle of people in the federal government and the authorities involved in the investigations who knew the current status of the investigations. This may also have something to do with the fact that the case is politically highly explosive. After all, the Nord Stream 2 project was highly controversial from the start. Poland had already rejected the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would have delivered gas from Russia directly to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, before Russia’s attack in February 2022.

Federal government emphasizes support for Ukraine

The Federal Prosecutor General’s investigations into the attack have no impact on Germany’s support for Ukraine, stressed the deputy government spokesman, Wolfgang Büchner, when asked by journalists in Berlin. He said that “the investigations are being conducted in accordance with the law, regardless of the person and completely independent of the outcome of such investigations.” The investigations “change nothing about the fact that Russia is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine that violates international law,” he added.

Büchner said that the investigation into the act of sabotage was the “highest priority” for the German government. He did not want to comment on whether the Polish authorities were cooperating sufficiently.