According to U.S. media reports, German prosecutors said on Thursday that a Ukrainian male citizen suspected of being one of the coordinators of the underwater explosions that damaged the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022 has been arrested.
Federal prosecutors stated that according to German privacy rules, the suspect was only identified as Serhii K., and he was arrested by police from the Misano Adriatico station near Rimini, Italy, overnight.
The explosions on September 26, 2022, damaged the pipelines, which were built to transport Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. This damage exacerbated the tensions of the Ukraine war following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin, as European countries began to cut their dependence on Russian energy.
Investigators have kept their investigation largely quiet, but two years ago they stated that traces of underwater explosives were found in samples collected from a yacht, which was searched as part of the investigation.
In a statement on Thursday, prosecutors said that Serhii K. was one of a group who placed explosives on the pipeline, believed to be one of the coordinators. They said he is accused of manufacturing explosions, unconstitutional sabotage, and destruction of buildings. He was arrested based on a European arrest warrant issued on Monday.
The suspect and others used a yacht that departed from the port of Rostock, Germany, which was rented from a German company, using forged identification documents with the help of intermediaries.
They did not provide any information about other people on the yacht, nor did they reveal who else might have been involved in coordinating the suspicious sabotage activities, nor did they disclose possible motives.
German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig praised what she called "a very impressive investigative success." In a statement, she said the explosion must be cleared, "so it's good that we have made progress."
The explosion caused the rupture of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the main route for Russian gas supply to Germany, until Moscow cut off supplies at the end of August 2022.
They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was never put into operation because Germany suspended the certification process shortly before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.
Russia accused the United States of orchestrating the explosions, but Washington denied the accusation. These pipelines have long been targets of criticism by the United States and some of its allies, who warned that they pose a risk to Europe's energy security by increasing dependence on Russian natural gas.
In 2023, German media reported that a pro-Ukrainian group was involved in the sabotage. Ukraine denied any possibility of it ordering the attack, and German officials were cautious about the accusation.
German prosecutors did not reveal when they expected to transfer Serhii K. to German authorities.
Swedish and Danish authorities concluded their investigation in February 2024, making the German prosecutors' case the only ongoing investigation.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841064577814528/
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