Ukrainian man arrested over Nord Stream pipeline attacks
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Ukrainian suspect detained in Italy over 2022 Nord Stream sabotage
Ukrainian suspect arrested in Italy for allegedly involvement in gas pipeline explosions. He is accused of participating in causing undersea explosions as well as anti-constitutional sabotage. The 49-year-old suspect is set to be extradited to Germany, prosecutors said. The Court of Appeal in the northern Italian city of Bologna must decide on whether to execute an existing European arrest warrant for the suspect, ANSA reported. He was arrested in the municipality of San Clemente, located inland from the popular seaside resort of Rimini.
The man is accused of participating in causing undersea explosions as well as anti-constitutional sabotage, the office of the Public Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe said.
The suspect is said to be part of a group of people who planted explosive devices on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.
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“The accused was presumably one of the coordinators of the operation,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
He is set to be extradited to Germany, prosecutors said, noting that the operation was conducted in cooperation with international police.
Report: Suspect arrested while on holiday
The Italian news agency ANSA reported that the man, 49, had been on holiday with his family on the Adriatic coast for several days when he was arrested in the early hours of Thursday in the municipality of San Clemente, located inland from the popular seaside resort of Rimini.
During a routine check, it was discovered that he was the man wanted across Europe, ANSA reported.
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There was no immediate confirmation from official sources in response to a dpa inquiry.
The suspect was then taken to prison. The Court of Appeal in the northern Italian city of Bologna must decide on whether to execute the existing European arrest warrant.
Pipeline damage months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Shortly after the explosions in September 2022, four leaks were discovered in three of the four pipeline sections.
Nord Stream 1 had previously been used to supply Germany with Russian gas, while Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
After the damage was discovered, questions quickly arose as to how the perpetrators managed to place the explosives on the pipelines underwater.
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Experts speculated that professional divers might have been involved in attaching the devices in several locations.
German prosecutors said on Thursday that the suspect and an accomplice used a sailboat for the sabotage, which set off from the north-eastern German city of Rostock.
The vessel was rented from a German company via intermediaries using fake documents, it said.
Investigations were launched in a number of countries bordering the Baltic Sea, but authorities in Sweden and Denmark have since closed their cases.
Ukrainian man arrested over Nord Stream pipeline attacks
Ukrainian man arrested at holiday bungalow in Italy on suspicion of coordinating attacks on three Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022. The explosions largely severed Russian gas supplies to Europe, prompting a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict. No one has taken responsibility for the blasts and Ukraine has denied any role. The arrest comes just as Kyiv is engaged in fraught diplomatic discussions with the U.S. over how to end the war in Ukraine without giving away swathes of its own territory to Russia. 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 Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. He and his accomplices had set off from Rostock on Germany’s northeastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack, prosecutors say. The vessel had been rented from a German company with the help of forged identity documents via middlemen, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said. The Washington Post and Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine have previously said the team that carried out the attacks was put together by a former Ukrainian intelligence officer.
Summary No one has claimed responsibility for 2022 pipeline blasts
Suspect used sailing yacht to carry out attack, prosecutors say
Suspect arrested while holidaying with family on Adriatic coast
Ukraine has previously denied involvement
Pipelines carried Russian gas to Europe
BERLIN/MILAN, Aug 21 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian man was arrested at a holiday bungalow in Italy on Thursday on suspicion of coordinating attacks on three Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, marking a breakthrough in an episode that sharpened tensions between Russia and the West.
Described by both Moscow and the West as an act of sabotage, the explosions largely severed Russian gas supplies to Europe, prompting a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and squeezing energy supplies on the continent. No one has taken responsibility for the blasts and Ukraine has denied any role.
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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.
“Politically we are firmly on Ukraine’s side and will continue to do so,” said Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig when asked if the arrest would affect Berlin’s ties to Kyiv. “What is important for me is that Germany is a country of laws and crimes in our jurisdiction are fully investigated.”
An official in the Ukrainian president’s office said he could not comment as it was not clear who had been arrested. The official reiterated Ukraine’s denial of any role in the blasts.
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 Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, 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 San Clemente in the province of Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast, where he was supposed to spend a few days with his family.
“Once his presence had been verified, the Carabinieri surrounded the bungalow and launched a raid, during which the man surrendered without resistance,” a statement by the Carabinieri said, adding the suspect was 49 years old.
A police official told Reuters the suspect was arrested because, when providing documents at a hotel check-in, an alert flagging he was wanted popped up at the police headquarters, which dispatched a Carabinieri police patrol.
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.
Moscow, without providing evidence, blamed Western sabotage for the blasts, which cut off most Russian gas supplies to the lucrative European market. The U.S. denied having anything to do with the attacks.
Denmark and Sweden closed their investigations in February 2024, leaving Germany as the only country continuing to pursue the case.
The Washington Post and Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine have previously said the team that carried out the attack was put together by a former Ukrainian intelligence officer, who has denied involvement.
In January 2023, Germany raided a ship that it said may have been used to transport explosives and told the United Nations it believed trained divers could have attached devices to the pipelines at about 70 to 80 metres deep.
The boat, leased in Germany via a Poland-registered company, contained traces of octogen, the same explosive that was found at the underwater blast sites, according to the investigations by Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
German media reported last year that Germany had issued a European arrest warrant against a Ukrainian diving instructor who allegedly was part of the team that blew up the pipelines.
Citing unnamed sources, several outlets reported that German investigators believed the man, last known to have lived in Poland, was one of the divers who planted explosive devices on the pipelines.
Successive Ukrainian governments had seen the pipelines as a symbol of, and vehicle for, Russia’s hold over European energy supplies that Kyiv argued made it hard to act against Moscow ever since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering Europe’s deadliest conflict in 80 years, in which analysts say more than 1 million people have been killed or injured.
Reporting by Rachel More, Philippe LeroyBeaulieu, Sarah Marsh, Giulio Piovaccari, Gavin Jones, Thomas Escritt, Tom Balmforth, Stine Jacobsen; writing by Matthias Williams Editing by Gareth Jones and Philippa Fletcher
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The strikes killed at least one person in Lviv, and injured 15 others, according to officials.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia struck a “major American electronics manufacturer” in western Ukraine.
Smoke rises over a factory hit by a Russian missile strike in Mukachevo, Ukraine, on Thursday. (Zakarpattia Regional Prosecutor’s Office/Reuters)
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The strikes occurred during a renewed effort by Western countries to reach a peace settlement in the three-year war following Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack, saying it was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all.”
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Ukraine targets Russian energy facilities
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At the moment of impact, 600 night-shift workers were on the premises, and six of them were injured, Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, told the Associated Press.
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Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike in the village of Sknyliv, on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine, early Thursday. (Roman Baluk/Reuters)
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