Ukrainian detained in Poland over 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions

In this picture provided by Swedish Coast Guard, a leak from Nord Stream 2 is seen, on Sept. 28, 2022. (Swedish Coast Guard via AP, File)

WARSAW, Poland — A Ukrainian man suspected of being involved in causing undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022 was arrested in Poland, a spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw said Tuesday.

Volodymyr Z. was detained in Pruszkow, central Poland, according to Polish radio station RMF FM, which first reported his capture. He has been transferred to prosecutors in Warsaw.

The man, whose full name wasn’t released due to privacy rules, was detained on a European arrest warrant issued by German authorities, said Piotr Antoni Skiba, a spokesperson for the Warsaw prosecutor’s office.

A spokesperson for Germany’s federal prosecutor did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.

Another Ukrainian man was arrested in Italy last month in connection with the explosions on the undersea pipelines that were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

“Taking into consideration the full-scale war in Ukraine and the fact that Nord Stream is owned by the Russian company Gazprom, which finances these activities, the defense currently does not see any possibility of pressing charges against anyone who participated in these events,” Tymoteusz Paprocki, Volodymyr Z.’s lawyer, told RMF FM.

The lawyer said it was not certain whether his client was involved in the sabotage act and he was awaiting official information about the intentions of the German justice system in pressing charges. The defense would fight extradition, the lawyer said.

Undersea explosions on Sept. 26, 2022, damaged pipelines that were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The damage added to tensions over the war in Ukraine as European countries moved to wean themselves off Russian energy sources, following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to RMF FM, German authorities say the man is a diving instructor and, in September 2022, he sailed to the Baltic Sea on a yacht, from which he dove underwater and placed the explosive on the underwater pipeline.

By Claudia Ciobanu