The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has declined to comment on the investigation, which concerns explosions that damaged pipelines in September 2022. The explosions caused leaks from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, two of the main conduits transporting Russian gas to Europe .
The German Prosecutor’s Office has issued the first arrest warrant in its investigation into the 2022 underwater explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany, according to several media outlets.
German public broadcaster ARD, newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and weekly Die Zeit said in a joint publication on Wednesday that German federal prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant in June. against a ukrainian man who is believed to have resided until recently in Poland.
Polish prosecutors confirmed that they had received an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man, but that He left the country before he could be arrested. According to the Polish Prosecutor’s Office, the suspect crossed the border from Poland to Ukraine at the beginning of July.
The information, which did not cite its sources, identified the man as ‘Wolodymyr Z’, and also alludes to two other Ukrainian suspects of being involved in the explosions. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on media reports. nor about arrest warrants.
Sabotage triggered tensions with Russia
The explosions of September 26, 2022 they damaged the gas pipelinesbuilt to transport Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The damage aggravated tensions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, as European countries They were trying to disassociate themselves from Russian energy sources.
It remains a mystery who was responsible of sabotage, although the first suspicions fell on the Kremlin, but investigators have not revealed many details about their findings so far. Swedish and Danish authorities closed their investigations in February, leaving the German prosecutor’s case as the only open investigation.
The explosions occurred when Europe was trying to isolate itself from Russian energy sources following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They breached the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which was the main supply route for Russian natural gas to Germany until Russia cut off supplies in late August of that year.
They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which never entered service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year..
Russia accused the US of sabotage
Russia has accused the United States of organize the explosionsan accusation that Washington denies. Gas pipelines were for a long time target of criticism from the United States and some of their allies, who warned that they posed a risk to Europe’s energy security by increasing dependence on Russian gas.
In March 2023, German media reported that a pro-Ukrainian group was involved in sabotage. Ukraine rejected suggestions that it could have ordered the attack and German authorities were wary of the accusation.
Authorities stated last year that researchers had found remains of underwater explosives in samples taken from a yacht that was searched as part of the investigation.
