Germany has issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian citizen for the alleged sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which took place in September 2022.
When asked by the French news agency AFP, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for part of the investigation, refused to comment on the information published by public television ARD and the newspapers Suddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit.
According to these German media outlets, the suspect is called Volodymyr Z. and lives in Poland, and is alleged to have attacked the gas pipelines with at least two other Ukrainian citizens. The German justice system has not yet issued arrest warrants for the two alleged accomplices.
The European arrest warrant was issued in June by the Federal Prosecutor's Office against the man, a diving instructor who lived not far from Warsaw, according to the three media outlets.
Under European mutual legal assistance rules, the Polish authorities had 60 days to respond to the German request and arrest the suspect.
According to German media, the arrest did not take place for reasons that were not explained.
The suspect is believed to have since fled, although it is not known whether he travelled to Ukraine.
The subject of the arrest warrant, who was briefly contacted by telephone by German media, denied any involvement in the attack.
Sweden and Denmark dropped their investigation earlier this year, but German authorities have continued the case, focusing in particular on the Ukrainian diver.
There is currently no evidence to suggest that the diver and his two alleged accomplices acted under orders from the Ukrainian authorities, intelligence services or army, according to German media.
The sabotage of the two gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany, which carried most of Russia's gas to Europe, took place on 26 September 2022, seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Four gas leaks, preceded by underwater explosions, occurred within hours of each other on the two pipelines, which were not in operation at the time.
Russia had already stopped supplying gas through Nord Stream 1, in the context of an energy conflict with European countries that support Ukraine, and Nord Stream 2 never went into operation.
Despite not being operational, the two pipelines operated by a consortium of the Russian giant Gazprom were full of gas.
Ukraine at the time accused Russia of responsibility for the leaks in the pipelines, accusations that were rejected by Moscow. Later, American and German media said that a pro-Ukrainian group could have been responsible for the sabotage.
Ukraine has denied any responsibility for the sabotage.
