BERLIN (AP) — A Ukrainian man suspected of setting off explosions that damaged Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany more than three years ago has been placed in custody in Germany.
A judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe issued an arrest warrant on Friday for 49-year-old Ukrainian Serhii Kuznietsov and ordered he be held in custody, federal prosecutors 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.
German prosecutors said Kuznietsov was one of a group of people who placed explosives on the pipelines and is believed to have been the coordinator. They said he is suspected of causing explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage and the destruction of structures.
The suspect and others used a yacht that set off from the German port of Rostock, which had been hired from a German company using forged IDs and with the help of intermediaries, prosecutors said.
Kuznietsov has denied involvement in the explosions, saying he was in Ukraine where he was serving as an army captain at the time of the blasts.
He arrived in Germany on Thursday after Italy’s highest court approved his extradition on Nov. 19. He was detained on a European arrest warrant Aug. 21 at a campground near the Adriatic coastal city of Rimini, Italy, where he was vacationing with his family.
In October, a Polish court blocked the extradition to Germany of another Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in the 2022 attack on the gas pipelines and ordered his release.
The Polish judge said the attack on the pipelines should be understood as a military action in a “just war,” and therefore not subject to criminal responsibility on the part of an individual. The Italian court deciding on the extradition of Kuznietsov did not accept this argumentation.
FILE - This photo provided by Swedish Coast Guard shows a leak from Nord Stream 2 on Sept. 28, 2022. (Swedish Coast Guard via AP, File)
