Italian police have arrested a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines, Germany’s prosecutor general said on Thursday, adding that he would be brought before a German judge after being transferred.
Seen by both Russia and the West as an act of sabotage, no one has ever taken responsibility for explosions that severely damaged pipelines carrying gas from Russia to Europe in September 2022, marking a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and ramping up an energy supply crisis on the continent.
The suspect, identified only as Serhii K. under German privacy laws, was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines near the German island of Bornholm in September 2022, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.
He and his accomplices had set off from Rostock on Germany’s north-eastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack.
It added that the vessel had been rented from a German company with the help of forged identity documents via middlemen.
Authorities acted on a European arrest warrant for the suspect, who faces charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and destruction of buildings.
Carabinieri officers arrested him overnight in the province of Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast, the German prosecutors’ statement said.
Italian police had no immediate comment.
The pipeline, once symbolising Europe’s reliance on Russia for energy, was sabotaged in September 2022.
The blasts saw three of the four pipelines suffer major damage. The critical piece of energy infrastructure took 15 years to build.
Earlier this year, Putin and Trump’s associated were reportedly holding secret talks to potentially restart the gas pipeline.
The move would mark a dramatic reversal for Trump, who previously led efforts to shut down Nord Stream 2 and push Germany to buy American liquefied natural gas (LNG) instead.
If successful, the deal could see US investors acquiring a stake in the pipeline’s operating company, allowing them to profit if Russian gas flows resume to Germany and other central European nations – should Western sanctions ease after a ceasefire in Ukraine.
It would also give Washington a major foothold in Berlin’s energy market.
The secret discussions are said to have taken place in Switzerland, brokered by Matthias Warnig, a former East German intelligence officer and longtime Putin confidant.
Warnig, who ran Nord Stream 2 before it collapsed into insolvency in 2023, reportedly played a key role in assembling potential backers.
On the US side, Richard Grenell, Trump’s combative former ambassador to Germany and current envoy for ‘special missions,’ is alleged to have led negotiations.
Stephen Lynch, a wealthy Trump-linked businessman, has also been named as a potential investor in the project.
However, both Grenell and Warnig have denied involvement, while Lynch has yet to comment on the claims.
Last year, a Ukrainian military officer allegedly involved in the 2022 operation told the Wall Street Journal the sabotage – pulled off with a single yacht, a six-person crew, rudimentary diving equipment and a set of light explosives – was dreamt up by a few Ukrainian military men amid an alcohol-fuelled bash.
One officer who participated and three other sources familiar with the plan also told WSJ it was initially approved by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but said that former armed forces commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny instructed the team to forge on with the attack when Zelensky got cold feet.
The Ukrainian president’s office at the time vehemently rejected the WSJ’s investigation as ‘absolute nonsense’.