Germany has issued its first arrest warrant in connection with the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline running from Russia to northern Europe, saying it is searching for a Ukrainian national known only as Volodymyr Z.
A European arrest warrant issued in June over the sabotage of a major pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to Europe has come to light for the first time. According to an investigation published on Wednesday by a group of German newspapers and broadcasters, the Federal Prosecutor General issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian national who calls himself “Volodymyr Z.”, a Ukrainian diving instructor, in accordance with German privacy laws that protect unconvicted suspects. Reports The Zeit.
Two other suspects are reportedly also under investigation but no arrest warrants have yet been issued – a man and a woman, also described as professional diving instructors of Ukrainian nationality.
German prosecutors have not commented on reports that an arrest warrant had been issued several months ago for a Ukrainian national on “suspicion of unconstitutional obstruction,” telling German media in a blanket statement: “Please understand that as a rule we do not comment on media reports and we do not comment on arrest warrants.”
Germany reportedly investigating whether Ukraine bombed Nord Stream pipeline https://t.co/wMZIEFgEF6
—Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 23, 2023
Volodymyr Z. was last known to be living outside Warsaw and is now believed to have fled the country without being arrested. There is no evidence that Ukrainian national Volodymyr Z. has any connection to the Ukrainian president of the same name, but the discovery of the arrest warrant has sparked some sarcastic and comedic reactions on social media.
The fact that the arrest warrant remained active for months, and that he was neither arrested nor prevented from fleeing the country despite living openly in Warsaw, could lead to a diplomatic row between current European allies Germany and Poland, with some reports strongly suggesting that Warsaw may have allowed the suspect to escape without action. Build state It is “suspected” that the wanted man was warned of his impending arrest and even given time to flee.
The construction of the Nord Stream pipeline through the Baltic Sea, which would allow cheap Russian imports to dominate central European energy markets and make countries such as Germany dangerously dependent on Moscow, has always been frowned upon in Poland. The Zeit He said the suspected pipeline saboteurs may have been considered “heroes” in Poland, which may have been why Warsaw took a lenient stance in executing the warrant.
Three of the four pipelines that make up the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 projects were destroyed by explosives in the early hours of September 26, 2022, and the explosion was detected by seismometer stations around the Baltic Sea. Shortly thereafter, major disruption could be seen off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm as large amounts of gas leaked from the ruptured pipeline, pushing up to the surface and into the atmosphere.
The Ukrainian government denies it has any connection to the attack, which blew up part of the Nord Stream gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany. https://t.co/WZCCxybHe9
—Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 8, 2023
In the early days of Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine, speculation quickly circulated about who might have been trying to destroy the energy infrastructure transporting Russian natural gas to Europe. There were theories that the US bombed the pipeline to damage the Russian economy, that Russia bombed it to starve Europe of energy, that Ukraine bombed it to reduce the West’s dependence on Moscow, and even that the Royal Navy attacked because London is Russia’s “eternal enemy.”
No conclusive answers have yet been found, with Swedish and Danish sabotage investigators having already given up, leaving Germany alone to continue tracking the explosion.
Germany is pursuing the theory that the pipeline was sabotaged by a group of Ukrainian divers who rented a yacht, according to a domestic newspaper exposé. AndromedaThe group, based on the German island of Rügen, had previously said it had found traces of explosives on the ship.
Germany later named a Ukrainian special forces colonel as suspected of orchestrating the attack, while the Ukrainian government has strongly denied any involvement in sabotaging the pipeline.
