Italian police have arrested a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines, Germany’s prosecutor general said on Thursday.
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 September 2022, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.
Italian police sources close to the investigation confirmed the arrest to Sky News and said the suspect was on holiday with his family at the time.
Serhii K. was found in San Clemente in the Rimini province on Italy’s Adriatic coast and is currently in jail pending a ruling on his extradition by the appeal court in Bologna, the sources added.
Police had acted on a European arrest warrant for the suspect, who faces charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and the destruction of structures.
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Serhii K. and his accomplices had set off from Rostock on Germany’s north-eastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack, according to the German prosecutor’s office.
It added that the vessel had been rented from a German company with the help of forged identity documents via middlemen.
Germany’s justice minister Stefanie Hubig said the arrest of the suspect was an “impressive success” for Germany’s state prosecutors.
She added: “The bombing of the pipelines must be investigated, including through criminal prosecution. Therefore, it is good that we are making progress in this regard.”
No group has claimed responsibility for the explosions that severely damaged three pipelines transporting gas from Russia to Europe.
It represented a significant escalation in the Ukraine conflict and worsening of the continent’s energy supply crisis.
Russia and the West have both said they see the damage to the pipelines as an act of sabotage.
Both the US and Ukraine previously denied any involvement as Moscow blamed the West.
The New York Times reported in 2023 that intelligence reviewed by US officials indicated a pro-Ukraine group was behind the attack.
There was no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or any other Kyiv official was behind the attacks, the US newspaper added.
Denmark and Sweden closed their Nord Stream pipeline investigations in February 2024, leaving Germany as the only country continuing to pursue the case.
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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.
The leaks occurred in international waters but within the exclusive economic zone of Denmark and Sweden.
The explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was Russia’s main natural gas supply route to Germany until Moscow cut off supplies at the end of August 2022.
They also damaged the 764-mile Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year.
The damaged Nord Stream pipelines, which were built by Russia’s state-controlled energy company Gazprom, discharged huge amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the air for several days.