Germany has asked Poland to arrest a Ukrainian diving instructor who was allegedly part of a group that blew up Nord Stream gas pipelines two years ago, according to reports in German media on Wednesday.
However, according to a media outlet, it appears that the man does not live in Poland. The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines carrying gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of explosions in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
German investigators believe a Ukrainian diver was part of a group that planted the bombs, SZ and Die Zeit, along with television channel ARD, said the newspapers, citing unidentified sources.
The German public prosecutor’s office declined to comment on reports that the German government had issued a European arrest warrant against Poland in June. The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office had no immediate comment, Reuters reported.
The German interior ministry declined to comment and the justice ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Another man and a woman – Ukrainian diving instructors – were identified in the German investigation into the sabotage, but no arrest warrants have been issued for them so far, SZ, Zeit and ARD reported. The explosions destroyed three of the four Nord Stream gas pipelines, which have become a controversial symbol of Germany’s reliance on Russian gas after Moscow invaded Ukraine.
The United States, Britain and Ukraine blamed Russia for the explosions, which largely cut off Russian gas from the lucrative European market. These countries denied their involvement. Germany, Denmark and Sweden launched investigations into the incident and the Swedes found traces of explosives in several items recovered from the blast site, confirming that the explosions were deliberate.
The Swedish and Danish investigations were not identified beyond doubt in February this year. In January 2023, Germany inspected a ship it said may have been used to transport explosives and told the United Nations it believed trained divers could connect the devices to gas pipes at a depth of about 70 to 80 meters.