By Rachel More
BERLIN (Reuters) -A Ukrainian man was arrested in Italy suspected of coordinating the 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines, German prosecutors said on Thursday, signalling a breakthrough in an episode that sharpened tensions between Russia and the West.
Seen by both Moscow and the West as an act of sabotage, the explosions severely damaged three pipelines carrying gas from Russia to Europe, marking a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and squeezing energy supplies on the continent. No one has ever taken responsibility for the blasts.
The arrest comes just as Kyiv is engaged in fraught diplomatic discussions with the United States over how to end the war in Ukraine without giving away major concessions and swathes of its own territory to Russia.
“The bombing of the pipelines must be investigated, including through criminal prosecution. Therefore, it is good that we are making progress in this regard,” said German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian embassy. Ukraine has previously denied involvement.
The suspect, identified only as Serhii K. under German privacy laws, was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines near the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm in September 2022, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.
He and his accomplices had set off from Rostock on Germany’s northeastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack, it said. The vessel had been rented from a German company with the help of forged identity documents via middlemen, it added.
Authorities acted on a European arrest warrant for the suspect, who faces charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and destruction of important structures.
Carabinieri officers arrested him overnight in the province of Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast, the German prosecutors’ statement said.
The Italian Carabinieri confirmed the arrest but gave no further details.
MYSTERIOUS BLASTS
In September 2022, one of the two lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was damaged by mysterious blasts, along with both lines of Nord Stream 1 that carried Russian gas to Europe.
Both the U.S. and Ukraine have denied having anything to do with the attacks, as has Russia. Moscow, without providing evidence, blamed Western sabotage for the blasts, which largely severed Russian gas supplies to the lucrative European market.
Denmark and Sweden closed their Nord Stream pipeline investigations in February 2024, leaving Germany as the only country continuing to pursue the case.
Danish authorities concluded there was “deliberate sabotage of the gas pipelines” but found “insufficient grounds to pursue a criminal case”, while Sweden closed its investigation citing a lack of jurisdiction.
(Reporting by Rachel More, Sarah Marsh and Gavin Jones; writing by Matthias WilliamsEditing by Gareth Jones)
