The German Federal Public Prosecutor has issued the first arrest warrant in connection with the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, local media have reported. The suspect is believed to be a Ukrainian citizen identified as ‘Vladimir Z’. It is unclear if the suspect has links to Kiev’s military or intelligence services.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the blasts which ruptured the pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022. As a result of the sabotage, gas supplies from Russia to Germany were halted. The parallel Nord Stream 2 line, which was also damaged, had never entered operation, having ben delayed by EU bureaucracy.
German state broadcaster ARD, the Suddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit media outlets reported on Wednesday that Federal Public Prosecutor Jens Rommel had issued the first arrest warrant in the case in early June. While the alleged suspect has been identified, two of his compatriots, a couple, have reportedly been named as potential accomplices.
German officials have reportedly filed a cooperation request with their Polish counterparts in the hope of locating the suspect, who is said to have been tracked to a location west of Warsaw before disappearing.
ARD reported that it had managed to reach the suspect by phone on Tuesday, adding that 'Vladimir Z' insisted he had nothing to do with the sabotage.
According to the state broadcaster, the presumed saboteurs are said to have sailed to the sabotage site on a yacht named the ‘Andromeda’. However, Polish authorities have insisted that the vessel’s voyage was “purely touristic” in nature, with the crew apparently not flagged as suspicious.
German prosecutors are skeptical of the Polish version of events, ARD reported. Polish officials also supposedly told their German counterparts that CCTV footage of the yacht and its crew had already been deleted.
Despite EU inter-state regulations, Warsaw has failed to respond to Berlin’s request for cooperation over Vladimir Z’s possible whereabouts, ARD alleged.
According to German media, investigators have yet to find any solid proof linking the suspect directly to the Ukrainian military or intelligence service. Senior officials in Kiev have publicly denied any involvement in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines.
The German prosecutor’s office has declined to offer an official comment.
The Russian authorities have pointed the finger at the US as standing the most to gain from the disruption of Russian gas supplies to Germany. Moscow has cited the public grievances voiced by Washington regarding the Nord Stream project on multiple occasions prior to the destruction of the conduits.
The Kremlin has also accused the West of stonewalling efforts to investigate the blast.