[ad_1]
German media investigative reports indicate that Germany has issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian national who is suspected of sabotaging the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Two years ago, in September 2022, explosions occurred on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines from Russia to Europe, seriously hindering Russia’s ability to supply natural gas to Germany and other European countries, just a few months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
according to Research German news media ARD, Sueddeutsche Zeitung and timeGerman federal prosecutors are investigating three Ukrainian diving school teachers for their alleged involvement in the bombing. The evidence against one of them was so strong that an arrest warrant was issued in July.
However, the suspect appears to have gone into hiding and is said to be living in a small town near Warsaw, Poland. According to investigative reports, he is out of reach of German authorities.
A German government spokesman was the first to respond, saying that “investigating the sabotage in Nord Stream is a top priority.” However, the spokesman stressed that the investigation would not affect Germany’s broader relations with Ukraine, “because the two are not related at all.”
“This case has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that, as the federal chancellor has said on several occasions, we will support Ukraine as long as necessary in resisting this war of aggression waged by Russia that violates international law,” the spokesman said on Wednesday.
The suspect, like his two colleagues, was highly trained in deep-water diving and was good at long-distance and extreme-depth diving. Federal prosecutors believe that the gang took an 18-day voyage with two other people in early September 2022, which eventually led to the explosion of a natural gas pipeline near the Danish island of Bornholm.
Soon after the sabotage, German authorities began investigating the “deliberate detonation of explosives”. Although Denmark and Sweden stopped their investigations earlier this year, Germany continued its efforts to get to the bottom of the attack. Following intelligence from cooperating countries, further evidence led Germany to issue an international arrest warrant in June for the suspect, who apparently resides in Poland.
However, Polish authorities have yet to execute the arrest request, and cooperation between the two countries on the matter has reportedly been difficult. Meanwhile, the suspect appears to have disappeared.
Poland and several other European countries have long criticized the gas pipeline, arguing that the project makes Europe dependent on cheap Russian gas.
(Editing by Oliver Noyan and Chris Powers)
Read more by Euractiv
[ad_2]
Source link
