Germany issues arrest warrant over Nord Stream pipeline attacks, reports say

BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors have issued a first arrest warrant in their investigation into the 2022 underwater explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany, media outlets reported Wednesday. German authorities declined to comment.

Prosecutors in neighbouring Poland said they had received a warrant for a Ukrainian man but said he had left the country before he could be arrested.

German public broadcaster ARD, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and the weekly Die Zeit said in a joint report that federal prosecutors had obtained an arrest warrant in June for a Ukrainian man believed to have been living in Poland until recently. The reports, which did not cite sources, identified the man as Wolodymyr Z.

The federal prosecutor’s office said it does not comment on media reports or arrest warrants.

However, Poland’s national prosecutor’s office confirmed that district prosecutors in Warsaw had received a European arrest warrant from German authorities in June against a Ukrainian citizen named Wolodymyr Z, without specifying what he had been charged with.

Authorities were unable to detain him because he had crossed the border from Poland into Ukraine in early July, the statement added.

The explosions on September 26, 2022, damaged the pipelines, which had been built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The damage exacerbated tensions surrounding the war in Ukraine as European countries reduced their reliance on Russian energy sources. The identity of the perpetrator remains a mystery, and investigators have not revealed details of their investigation so far.

Swedish and Danish authorities closed their investigations in February, leaving the German prosecutors’ case as the only one still open.

The explosions occurred as Europe sought to wean itself off Russian energy sources following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They blew up the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which was Russia’s main natural gas supply route to Germany until Moscow cut off supplies in late August 2022.

They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which never went into service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year.

Russia has accused the United States of orchestrating the explosions, a charge Washington denies. The pipelines have long been criticised by the United States and some of its allies, who warned they posed a risk to European energy security by increasing its dependence on Russian gas.

German media reported in March 2023 that a pro-Ukrainian group had been involved in the sabotage. Ukraine rejected suggestions that it might have ordered the attack, while German officials expressed caution over the allegation.

Authorities said last year that investigators had found traces of underwater explosives in samples taken from a yacht that was searched as part of the investigation.

German government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner declined to comment on Wednesday’s reports and referred questions to federal prosecutors. But he said that bringing the matter to light was a “top priority.”