Ukrainian arrested in Croatia over Nord Stream sabotage

KARLSRUHE, Germany: A Ukrainian man was arrested Wednesday in Croatia on suspicion of taking part in the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines running between Russia and Germany in 2022, German prosecutors said.

“The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office had Ukrainian Vladimir Z. arrested in Pula (Croatia) by local police forces,” prosecutors said, adding that the trained scuba diver “is strongly suspected of jointly causing explosions”.

The man arrested in Croatia was part of a group that sabotaged the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm, prosecutors alleged.

Z worked closely with Sergiy Kuznetsov, another Ukrainian man arrested in Italy last year before being extradited to the German city of Hamburg, prosecutors said.

Both Ukrainian men are said to have used a yacht that had been rented in Germany by intermediaries using false identification documents for their mission.

“The suspect participated in the necessary dives” for the sabotage, prosecutors alleged, adding they were pursuing Z’s extradition from Croatia.