German court issues first arrest warrant in Nord Stream sabotage case: Ukrainian diving instructor under scrutiny
A German court has issued the first arrest warrant in the case concerning the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. The suspect, identified as Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr, was previously living in Poland. However, Volodymyr was not detained in Poland, where he was living at the time. He denies any involvement in the bombings.
Several German media outlets, including Spiegel, reported that in June 2024, the Federal Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Volodymyr, a Ukrainian citizen and a diving instructor. Recently, he resided in Pruszków, Poland. In line with German practices, only the first name and initial of the suspect's surname are disclosed, though these initials differ in German and Polish reports. German media have named him as Wladimir S., while Polish sources refer to him as Volodymyr Z.
Reporters have discovered that Volodymyr previously worked at a diving school in Kyiv, specializing in deep-sea dives. Besides him, two other suspects are reportedly involved in the case: a couple named Svitlana and Yevhen, who allegedly run a diving school in Ukraine where Volodymyr was an instructor.
Svitlana has already told journalists that she does not know Volodymyr and has no knowledge of the Nord Stream attack, as she was in Bulgaria at the time. Volodymyr, with whom journalists made contact, denies any involvement in the explosions, which German authorities have classified as "acts of unconstitutional sabotage".
Reports indicate that the issuance of the arrest warrant was based on witness testimonies, alleging that Volodymyr J. was among passengers in a white Citroën that, according to investigators, transported a crew to the yacht Andromeda on September 8, 2022. Radar pictures taken near the German island of Rügen, due to a speeding violation, supposedly depict a man resembling Volodymyr. "The vehicle transported diving equipment used during the operation at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The driver identified the wanted Volodymyr as one of the passengers," mentioned Spiegel.
In Poland, the suspect was not detained despite having a European arrest warrant against him. Onet reported, citing the statement from Polish prosecutor's office spokesperson Anna Adamczak, that Germany issued a European arrest warrant for the suspect. However, Berlin did not enter his data into the Schengen search database, allowing him to cross the Polish-Ukrainian border. Adamczak noted that Germany had issued only a European arrest warrant for Volodymyr, but he wasn't listed in the search database used by border guards. Therefore, his data was not entered by the German side.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines near Denmark’s Bornholm Island became inoperative at the end of September 2022 due to depressurization. A seismograph on the island recorded two explosions preceding the gas leaks from the pipes. The incident was soon deemed sabotage. Spiegel reported that in June 2022, several months before the attack, Dutch military intelligence warned the Federal Intelligence Service about a potential attack on the pipeline. In 2023, Polish intelligence services provided Germany with evidence of Russian involvement in the Nord Stream pipe explosions, but German authorities remain skeptical.
At the time, the pipelines were filled with technical gas but were not in operation – Germany had never certified Nord Stream 2, and Nord Stream 1 had been shut down by Gazprom for supposed maintenance reasons.
The Nord Stream pipelines (Nord Stream) extend through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Currently, they are not operational. The sole functional gas pipeline from Russia to Western Europe now passes through Ukrainian territory, with the Ukrainian army recently seizing Gazprom's gas distribution station in Sudzha, Kursk region.