German Federal Prosecutor's Office charges Ukrainian over Nord Stream attacks
The Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe has charged a Ukrainian citizen in connection with the attack on the Baltic Sea pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2. Investigators believe the former soldier prepared the sabotage on the orders of Ukrainian state bodies.
German Federal Prosecutor's Office charges Ukrainian over Nord Stream attacks
The Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe confirmed on Thursday charges against a Ukrainian citizen allegedly responsible for the destruction of the Baltic Sea pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2. The man is accused of planning and carrying out the sabotage in September 2022 in coordination with other members of the Ukrainian armed forces. Investigators believe the act was committed on the orders of state authorities in Kyiv.
The accused, a former officer of a Ukrainian Army special forces unit named Serhij K., is said to have commanded the sailing ship Andromeda, from which the attacks on the underwater pipelines were executed. Along with other crew members and several civilian divers, the perpetrators are alleged to have placed home-made explosives on the Baltic Sea seabed almost four years ago. On 26 September 2022, the time-controlled explosive charges detonated and destroyed three of the four pipeline strands.
The Nord Stream pipelines had been built to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany. Before the start of the full Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than half of the Russian gas destined for the German market flowed through Nord Stream 1. Nord Stream 2 had not yet become operational at that time, but the pipelines, which were already filled with gas, were damaged nonetheless.
According to reports by ARD, Süddeutsche Zeitung and the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, investigators are said to have found incriminating evidence on the man's mobile phone. The Ukrainian allegedly incriminated himself in intercepted telephone conversations with relatives and acquaintances. The evidence is described as overwhelming in security circles.
During the investigations, specialists from the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Police discovered traces of a mixture of the military explosives hexogen and octogen on board the Andromeda. Seven suspects were gradually identified, one of whom is said to have died at the front in the meantime.
Investigators were able to track down the suspects among other things using control data from the Polish border protection authority. This included information on Serhij K., an elite soldier who at the time of the act was an officer responsible for leading a special forces unit of the Ukrainian Army.
The Federal Prosecutor General accuses the Ukrainian of attacks on civilian energy infrastructure as well as a war crime under international criminal law. The trial against him is to begin in autumn in Hamburg. Kyiv has consistently denied any involvement in the explosions.
Source: Novinky.cz
Source: Novinky.cz