Nord Stream sabotage: Germany issues arrest warrant

German authorities have issued an arrest warrant over the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines nearly two years ago, according to German news outlets ARD, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit.

In an investigation published Wednesday, the outlets reported that the suspect is a Ukrainian diving instructor, named only as Volodymyr Z. for privacy reasons.

It is alleged he attacked the pipelines in tandem with at least two others, who are also believed to be Ukrainian citizens.

The suspect was believed to last be living in Poland, but Polish authorities said they could not act on the warrant because he had left the country.

What happened to the Nord Stream pipelines?

The Nord Stream 1 and the not-yet operational Nord Stream 2 were major conduits in the Baltic Sea for Russian gas into Europe, particularly Germany. Their use was always controversial for their role in making the EU reliant on Russian energy, and became even more so after Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

On September 26, 2022, several explosions were detected along the pipelines, leading to gas leaks.

Germany, Denmark, and Sweden all opened investigations into the incident, but the Danish and Swedish probes were closed without pinpointing a suspect.

The explosions attracted worldwide media attention, fueling speculation about who could be responsible. Russia and the West have accused each other of being behind the blasts. It was immediately suspected that Ukrainians were involved, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strongly denied the state played a role.

What did the German investigation find?

According to German authorities, Volodymyr Z. and two others approached the driver of the German-flagged yacht Andromeda, which docked in the northern island of Rügen. 

ARD reported that Volodymyr Z. directed the driver out to the location of the pipeline, and two of the three suspects donned diving gear and went underwater.

The driver has reportedly identified Z. from a photo array shown to him by police. According to the report, a white van suspected of being used to transport diving material was caught on a traffic camera on Rügen in September 2022 with a passenger "strongly resembling Z."

A German court issued an arrest warrant for Volodymyr Z. in June.

The news outlets that initially reported on the case said they had based their findings on "information from a foreign intelligence service."

Where is Volodymyr Z.?

The suspect was last known to be living in a village outside of Warsaw, Poland. However, he is believed to have gone into hiding.

Following questions as to why Poland did not honor the European arrest warrant within the required 60 days, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office said that the suspect had fled to Ukraine before they could do so. She said they had serched his resident outside Warsaw, but he was already gone.

No links between the suspects and the Ukrainian government have been found.

The two other suspects, a married couple who do not have warrants issued in their names, have denied knowing Z. and said that they were on vacation in Bulgaria when the attack took place.

A German Justice Ministry spokeswoman said they were "not commenting on the media reports" about the warrant.

es/nm (AFP, ARD, Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung)