German prosecutors said on Wednesday they had brought charges against a suspect in the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline linking Russia with Europe.
Federal prosecutors confirmed to the AFP news agency that a man had been charged over the explosion, with German media reporting that he was a Ukrainian national said to be the head of the team that carried out the operation.
They named the man as Serhii K. and said he was the same suspect who was arrested in summer 2025 in Italy and extradited to Germany the following November.
The reports say that he is charged with “attacks on civilian energy infrastructure, causing an explosives detonation, and demolition of built structures.”
He is now reportedly in detention in Hamburg, where he will face trial.
Serhii K. is thought by investigators to have been in command on the yacht used to carry out the operation, according to the reports.
The evidence gathered against him is described as “overwhelming,” as he allegedly incriminated himself during phone calls he made to relatives and acquaintances when he was in custody in Italy.
Pleasure cruise
A small Ukrainian crew disguised as a pleasure boat cruise was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in 2024.
The operation was concocted during a drunken night in May 2022, as Ukrainian military officers celebrated halting Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country and were looking to deal another blow to Moscow, the newspaper said, citing four anonymous sources familiar with the plan.
Nord Stream is a network of pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany to provide Western Europe with natural gas, meaning it provided billions to the Kremlin’s coffers.
The scheme reportedly cost around $300,000 (€273,000) and involved a six-member crew on a small rented yacht.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initially approved it before the US intelligence agency CIA caught wind and asked him to stop.
The Ukrainian president ordered a halt but his commander-in-chief, Valeriy Zaluzhniy, went ahead with the operation anyway, the WSJ said.
The outlet said it had spoken to four senior Ukrainian defence and security officials who either participated in or had direct knowledge of the plot and that all of them considered the pipelines as a legitimate target as it defended itself against Russia.
The damage added to tensions over the war in Ukraine as European countries moved to wean themselves off Russian energy sources following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
The explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was Russia’s main natural gas supply route to Germany until Moscow cut off supplies at the end of August 2022.
They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year.
Russia accused the US of staging the explosions, a charge Washington denied.
Additional sources • AP, AFP