Aug 21, 11:19 AM

Italy Arrests Ukrainian Suspect Over 2022 Nord Stream Blasts

Italian authorities have arrested a Ukrainian national, identified under German privacy rules as Serhii K., on suspicion of coordinating the 2022 sabotage that crippled the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany. Carabinieri officers detained the former Ukrainian military officer overnight in the province of Rimini on a European arrest warrant issued by Germany. According to the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office, Serhii K. belonged to a group that sailed from the Baltic port of Rostock aboard the rented yacht “Andromeda,” using forged identity documents. Investigators allege the team planted explosive devices on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 near the Danish island of Bornholm, triggering underwater blasts on 26 September 2022 that severely damaged three of the four pipeline strings. The suspect faces charges of causing explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage and destruction of structures. Italian authorities plan to transfer him to Germany, where he will appear before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe. The detention is the first arrest in a three-year multinational probe into one of Europe’s most consequential energy sabotage incidents. Swedish and Danish prosecutors closed their own inquiries in February 2024, leaving Germany to pursue the remaining investigation into attacks that intensified Europe’s energy crisis following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.