Nord Stream Photo: collage
Germany has issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor living in Poland on suspicion of involvement in the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions in September 2022. Despite an appeal to Warsaw in June this year, the Polish authorities have still not complied with this request, which is causing concern among German law enforcement officers. This is reported by the leading German media, referred to by Deutsche Welle.
The suspect, known as Volodymyr Z., is believed to be one of the divers who planted explosives on gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea. According to the investigation, he and two other Ukrainian diving instructors asked for help from the captain of the yacht, which took them to the island of Rügen, from where they carried out an underwater operation.
The investigators managed to partially recreate the route of the suspects, in particular, one of the drivers recognized Volodymyr Z. from the photos shown by the police. However, at the time of the explosions, Ukrainian authorities, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyryll Budanov, denied any Ukrainian involvement in the incident. “None of the officials in Ukraine could have anything to do with this,” Budanov emphasized in an interview with German television.
In turn, Volodymyr Z. categorically denied his participation in the sabotage in a telephone conversation, but his denials did not remove the suspicions of the German investigators. Although the other two suspects have also been identified, no arrest warrants have been issued.
It is not known why the Polish authorities did not execute the European arrest warrant within the 60-day deadline. This raises speculation that, although Warsaw was not involved in the attack, it may be silently tolerating the situation after the incident. Germany has long expressed concern over the lack of reaction from the Polish authorities.
Despite the investigation launched by Germany, Denmark and Sweden, the suspects were not identified for a long time. Swedish investigators found traces of explosives at the scene, confirming the intentional nature of the explosions, but no final conclusions were made.
Meanwhile, in January 2023, Germany told the UN that it believed the explosions could have been carried out by trained divers at a depth of 70-80 meters and suggested that the vessel that was searched could have been used to transport explosives.
