Germany has issued its first arrest warrant over the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to northern Europe, saying it is seeking a Ukrainian citizen, named only as Volodymyr Z.
A European Arrest Warrant issued in June over the sabotage of a major pipeline feeding Europe Russian gas has come to light for the first time. Per an investigation published by a group of German newspapers and broadcasters on Wednesday, the Federal Prosecutor General put out a warrant for the arrest of Ukrainian citizen named, in line with German privacy law protecting unconvicted suspects, as Ukrainian diving instructor “Volodymyr Z.”, reports Die Zeit.
Two other suspects are reportedly also being considered, but have not been issued with arrest warrants yet. A man and a woman, they are also said to be Ukrainian citizen professional diving instructors.
The German Prosecutor has not commented on the reports that it has a now months-old unserved arrest warrant on a Ukrainian citizen sought “on suspicion of unconstitutional sabotage” today, telling national media in a blanket statement: “I ask for your understanding that we generally do not comment on media reports and do not comment on arrest warrants as a matter of principle.”
Volodymyr Z. is last known to have been living in a suburb of Warsaw, but is thought to have now left the country without being apprehended. There is no suggestion Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Z. is related in any way to his near-namesake the Ukrainian President, although the emergence of the warrant has led to some wryly amused responses on social media.
The fact the warrant has allegedly been active for months and had allegedly been living openly in Warsaw and yet wasn’t apprehended or prevented from fleeing abroad may lead to a diplomatic spat between European now-allies Germany and Poland. It is strongly implied in several reports that Warsaw may have sat on its hands and allowed this suspect to escape, with Bild stating there is a “suspicion” the wanted man was even warned of an impending arrest, giving him time to get away.
The construction of the Nord Stream pipelines through the Baltic sea, allowing cheap Russian imports to dominate the central-European energy market and make states like Germany dangerously dependent on Moscow, was always frowned upon in Poland. Die Zeit suggests the alleged pipeline saboteur may have been seen as a “hero” in Poland, stating this may explain Warsaw’s relaxed attitude to executing the warrant.
Three of four pipelines that made up the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 projects were sabotaged with explosives in the early hours of September 26th 2022, the blasts picked up by seismometer stations around the Baltic Sea. Shortly afterwards large disturbances became visible in the sea close to the Danish island of Bornholm as vast quantities of gas escaped from the ruptured piped and rushed to the surface to vent into the atmosphere.
Speculation immediately mounted over who, in those early days of the second Russian invasion of Ukraine, may have wished to destroy energy infrastructure delivering Russian-extracted gas to Europe. Theories included the United States bombing the pipes to damage the Russian economy, Russia bombing the pipeline to starve Europe of energy, Ukraine bombing it to cut Western dependence on Moscow, and even the British Royal Navy attacking it, because London is Russia’s “eternal enemy”.
No conclusive answer has yet been found, and investigations into the sabotage by Sweden and Denmark have already given up on getting to the bottom of the matter, leaving only Germany still pursuing the blasts.
Germany has, according to exposes in its national press, been pursuing the theory the pipelines were destroyed by a group of Ukrainian divers who hired a yacht, the Andromeda, and operated out of Ruegen Island, Germany. The Federal Criminal Police Office had previously announced it discovered traces of explosives on the boat.
Germany later named a Ukrainian special forces colonel as being suspected of having coordinated the attack. The Ukrainian government, for their part, strongly deny they had any involvement in the sabotage of the pipeline.
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