German authorities have taken into custody a Ukrainian national allegedly responsible for coordinating the September 2022 explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Serhii Kuznietsov, 49, was ordered detained by a Federal Court of Justice judge in Karlsruhe on Friday following an arrest warrant issued by federal prosecutors.
The sophisticated operation, which targeted critical energy infrastructure beneath the Baltic Sea, involved the use of a yacht chartered from a German company using falsified identification documents. According to investigative findings, Kuznietsov allegedly masterminded the placement of explosives on the pipelines that were designed to transport Russian natural gas to Germany.
Kuznietsov’s extradition from Italy culminated on Thursday after the Italian Supreme Court approved his transfer on November 19. His initial detention occurred on August 21 at an Adriatic coastal campground where he was vacationing with family members. The suspect has consistently denied involvement, claiming he was serving as an army captain in Ukraine during the time of the explosions.
This development contrasts sharply with a recent Polish judicial decision that blocked the extradition of another Ukrainian suspect in the same case. A Polish judge had characterized the pipeline attack as legitimate military action in the context of the Ukraine conflict, thereby exempting individuals from criminal liability—a legal interpretation explicitly rejected by Italian authorities in Kuznietsov’s case.
The 2022 pipeline explosions significantly escalated geopolitical tensions as European nations sought to reduce dependence on Russian energy resources following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The incident remains one of the most consequential acts of energy infrastructure sabotage in recent European history.