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A Ukrainian man has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of involvement in blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, just as Kyiv’s western allies are accelerating diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
German prosecutors on Thursday said that the man, who they named only as Serhii K, was detained in the province of Rimini on Monday. German authorities had issued a European arrest warrant for his alleged role in helping to co-ordinate the act of sabotage against Russia’s undersea pipelines in 2022.
Serhii K was part of a group of people who used a yacht to set off from the German Baltic port of Rostock, according to German prosecutors. The group planted explosive devices to attack Nord Stream 1 and 2, causing damage to three of the four pipelines and rendering them unusable.
Prosecutors said that Serhii K would be brought before a German court after being extradited from Italy.
Italy’s Carabinieri police confirmed the arrest of a 49-year old Ukrainian national in Rimini, adding that he was the subject of an EU arrest warrant issued by Germany.
The detention is the first arrest in connection with the attacks — one of the most audacious acts of sabotage in recent history.
It comes at a highly sensitive time, as Moscow has dismissed any western security guarantees for Ukraine that do not include a Russian veto — which European leaders have sought to draw as part of Donald Trump’s efforts to bring Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the negotiating table.
Germany, which is the biggest single military backer of Ukraine in Europe, has played a leading role in efforts to prevent a settlement being imposed on Kyiv against its will.
The story behind the attack remained a mystery for months after the incident, which took place seven months after the launch of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It prompted a raft of claims, counterclaims and conspiracy theories, with Moscow, Washington and Kyiv all named as possible actors who might have an interest in damaging the infrastructure to carry Russian gas to Germany.
Prior to the war, Germany was Gazprom’s biggest customer in Europe and the Nord Stream project connecting Germany directly to Russia had been a brainchild of former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who went on to serve on the board of several Russian energy companies.
Investigations in Sweden and Denmark focused on the suspicious movements of Russian military vessels in the area ahead of the explosions, which took place near the Danish island of Bornholm. But they later abandoned their probes after finding sufficient evidence.
German prosecutors, however, grew increasingly convinced of the uncomfortable conclusion that the culprit was Ukraine. It also emerged that the CIA had in 2022 warned Kyiv against attacking the pipelines after receiving a tip-off from Dutch intelligence.
In January 2023, investigators searched a 15m-long yacht, the Andromeda, in north-east Germany which had been chartered around the time of the explosions.
Witnesses had seen five men and a woman aboard the vessel. When officials examined it, they found traces of the explosive octogen, which can be used underwater.
In June 2024, German investigators issued an arrest warrant for a man named Volodymyr Z, a Ukrainian diving instructor suspected to be the ringleader of the attacks who was living in Poland. But Polish authorities failed to arrest him, allowing him to flee to his home country and prompting accusations that Warsaw allowed him to escape.
Ukraine has denied any involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the plan was initially approved by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but that he later ordered a halt after the warning from the CIA.
But the newspaper said that Zelenskyy’s then commander-in-chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, who was leading the effort, forged ahead regardless and gave the green light for a six-person crew that included a military officer and trained divers to carry out the clandestine operation.
Zaluzhnyy, who is currently the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, has denied involvement.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi in Rome
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