German prosecutor's office issues arrest warrant for Ukrainian for blowing up Nord Stream – media

German Prosecutor General Jens Rommel has issued the first arrest warrant for the main suspect in the 2022 Nord Stream blowing-up case, a Ukrainian named Volodymyr, who lived in Poland until recently.

Source: European Pravda with reference to German media outlets ARD, Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and Die Zeit

Details: Journalists report that the suspect is a diving instructor. He used to live in the town of Pruszków west of Warsaw, but recently has allegedly gone into hiding. It is unknown whether he has returned to Ukraine.

Investigators say Volodymyr was one of the passengers in the white Citroën spotted near Rügen on the night of 8 September 2022. It is believed that this car was transporting the crew to the Andromeda yacht, which was transporting divers to the blowing-up sites. Volodymyr was identified from photographs and witness statements. The media reported that this evidence was sufficient to issue an arrest warrant.

The investigation also suspects two other Ukrainian citizens, a man and a woman. They are also believed to have been involved in the blowing up, possibly as divers who placed explosives on the pipelines.

This information is based, among other things, on foreign intelligence.

Investigators reportedly gathered enough evidence in recent months to obtain an arrest warrant for Volodymyr from an investigating judge of the Federal Court in early June.

In June, German prosecutors applied to the Polish authorities for a European arrest warrant in the hope that the suspect would be arrested. However, the Polish side did not respond to the German request for legal assistance, and the German government did not know until the end what the Poles would do with the arrest warrant.

Following the general rules of the European Arrest Warrant, which Germany and Poland consider binding, the arrest could be expected within 60 days without further review by Poland. This period has now expired.

German journalists contacted the suspect, Volodymyr, by phone, and he said that this was the first time he had heard of the suspicion and denied any involvement in the blowing up of the gas pipeline.

Background:

• Earlier, European investigators claimed that Polish officials had allegedly slowed down the investigation into the acts of sabotage on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in autumn 2022.
• Western media reported in March 2023 that non-governmental groups, including Russians and Ukrainians, could have been behind the crime. Later, the media claimed that Dutch intelligence had allegedly found out the Ukrainians' plan to carry out the sabotage and warned the United States.
• Ukraine denies any involvement in the blowing up of Nord Stream.

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