Poland detains Ukrainian suspected of Nord Stream sabotage, media reports
Polish authorities have detained a Ukrainian citizen suspected by Germany of involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Polish media outlet RMF 24 reported on Sept. 30.
The news comes as the German government continues its investigation into the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines, linking Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea.
The suspect, identified as Volodymyr Z., was apprehended in the town of Pruszkow in central-eastern Poland. He is wanted under a European arrest warrant issued by a German court in 2024.
Following his arrest, the suspect was transferred to the district prosecutor’s office in Warsaw, according to RMF 24.
Tymoteusz Paprocki, the suspect’s lawyer, said there are no legal grounds for his extradition to Germany.
"In general, given the full-scale war in Ukraine and the fact that Nord Stream is owned by the Russian company Gazprom, which finances this activity, the defense currently sees no possibility of bringing charges against anyone who participated in this activity," Paprocki told RMF 24.
The lawyer added that it remains unclear whether his client was involved in the sabotage, noting that they are awaiting an official schedule of legal proceedings and further information from German authorities about possible charges. Only after that can the extradition process move forward.
Whether the Ukrainian national will be extradited to Germany remains uncertain. The final decision will rest with the court, and the defense has pledged to fight any attempt to hand him over, RMF 24 reported.
German authorities claim to have uncovered direct evidence linking the Ukrainian suspect to the Nord Stream pipeline explosion.
The suspect is a diving instructor who allegedly sailed from the German city of Rostock to the Baltic Sea on a yacht in September 2022, then dived underwater and placed explosives on the underwater pipeline.
Several German media outlets reported that Volodymyr Z. had been living in Warsaw in recent months. In early June 2024, the German prosecutor’s office issued a European arrest warrant and sent it to Polish authorities. However, Polish officials did not detain him at the time.
Anna Adamiak, a spokesperson for the Polish Prosecutor General’s Office, said that after receiving the warrant, Polish prosecutors needed to confirm the suspect’s location. By then, Volodymyr Z. had allegedly left the country.
In August, another Ukrainian national, Serhii Kuznietsov, was arrested in Italy on suspicion of involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. He is accused of being on board the yacht used during the sabotage operation.
According to German prosecutors, Kuznietsov coordinated the mission, and investigators are still searching for his accomplices. The suspect has denied the allegations, claiming that he was in Ukraine at the time of the incident.
The West and Kyiv have traded blame with Russia in the wake of the Nord Stream explosions.
Germany, Sweden, and Denmark launched independent investigations into the incident. The latter two countries concluded their probes in February 2024, finding that the pipelines had been blown up without identifying the culprit.
The construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline — which never entered service — was highly controversial even before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as critics said it increased Germany's energy dependence on Moscow.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said earlier this year that the German government would "do everything" to prevent the start of Nord Stream 2.
The EU's 18th package of sanctions against Russia included measures banning EU operators from engaging in any transactions regarding the pipelines.
