Ukrainian charged with war crimes over Nord Stream sabotage
A former Ukrainian army officer has been charged with war crimes in Germany for the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Serhii Kuznietsov is alleged to have been responsible for undersea explosions that damaged the pipeline linking Russia with Europe in September 2022, months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The suspect, who German prosecutors claim was acting on behalf of the Ukrainian government, has been charged with being an accomplice to a war crime, disruption of public services, causing an explosion and destroying structures.
The undersea explosions damaged pipelines that were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
The indictment is the first time German prosecutors have formally brought the Nord Stream sabotage case before a court.
In line with German privacy rules, federal prosecutors identified the suspect only as Serhii K. They confirmed that the man charged was the same suspect who had been arrested last summer and extradited to Germany.
Prosecutors say the aim of the plot was to permanently disrupt gas deliveries via the pipelines and prevent Russia using the revenues from natural gas trading to finance its military operations.
The suspect was detained in August after officers raided a bungalow in an Italian village where he was staying with his family. Police said he had surrendered without resistance. He was extradited to Germany in November.
Mr Kuznietsov and others allegedly reached the pipeline using a yacht called the Andromeda 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.
The German broadcaster ARD said that investigators had found traces of military explosives on the yacht and that a total of seven suspects had been identified in the case, one of whom has since died in the war.
A month after Mr Kuznietsov's arrest, a second Ukrainian suspect was detained at his home near Warsaw, but a Polish court refused a German extradition request.
The law firm representing Mr Kuznietsov confirmed he was being charged with "attacks on civilian energy infrastructure, causing an explosive detonation, and demolition of built structures".
He has denied involvement in the $300,000 (£230,000) plot that took out three of the four Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
The attack prompted years of speculation over who was responsible. Russia, Ukraine, the US and Britain have all been accused or suspected by different parties.
In a statement detailing the charges on Wednesday, German prosecutors said that Mr Kuznietsov and others had acted "on the orders of state authorities in Ukraine".
However, German intelligence officials have previously expressed doubt that Ukraine was behind the sabotage, suggesting it might have been a "false-flag" operation by Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said his government knew nothing about any plan to blow up the pipelines.
However, US media reported in 2024 that the Ukrainian president had initially approved the sabotage attack then called it off after coming under pressure from the CIA. The team launched the attack anyway, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
Asked about the charges on Wednesday, Mr Zelensky told a press conference in Dublin: "We have not officially received any details. At least, I have not seen them. It is too early to say yet."
Volodymyr Zelensky is alleged to have initially approved the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline before calling it off - Bryan Meade/Shutterstock
Immediately after the sabotage, Moscow blamed the US for the attack. The White House has repeatedly denied any involvement.
The Nord Stream pipeline was controversial because it left Germany reliant on cheap energy from Moscow and bypassed countries bordering Russia, such as Poland and Ukraine.
The damage added to tensions over the war as European countries moved to wean themselves off Russian energy sources after the invasion.
Germany's initial reluctance to give Ukraine military support when the war started has been partly blamed on the energy dependency created by the pipeline.