German Federal Prosecutor's Office brings war crimes charges against former officer over Nord Stream attack
Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office has brought charges against a former Ukrainian army officer, whom it describes as an accomplice to a war crime in connection with the explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022.
German Federal Prosecutor's Office brings war crimes charges against former officer over Nord Stream attack
Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office has brought charges against a former Ukrainian army officer. The man is described as an accomplice to a war crime in connection with explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022. The charges were filed on Thursday at a regional court in Hamburg. The defendant, known under German data protection rules only as Serhii K., is alleged to have acted on behalf of Ukrainian state authorities.
According to the indictment, the defendant was an officer in the Ukrainian army in 2022. He is said to have developed a plan together with other military personnel to destroy Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2. According to the prosecution, the aim was to permanently stop gas supplies through the pipelines and prevent Russia from using revenues from gas trade to finance its war efforts.
The defendant allegedly led a team consisting of professional divers, a captain and an explosives expert. In September 2022, he is said to have entered Germany using a forged Ukrainian passport and boarded a yacht rented with forged identification documents. Subsequently, he and his accomplices transported large quantities of military explosives through international waters to a location near the Danish island of Bornholm. There they attached explosive charges to the pipelines on the Baltic Sea floor and set timing fuses.
Serhii K. was arrested in Italy in August and extradited to Germany in November. He denies participating in the explosions. His German lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Thursday. However, his Italian legal representative, Nicola Canestrini, welcomed the charges: "We do not fear the charges – we demand that the facts be established, and in public," he stated.
Under German law, incitement to an attack on civilian objects carries a minimum prison sentence of three years, or one year in less serious cases. The German courts are treating the case as falling within their jurisdiction because the damaged pipelines end in Lubmin in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and their loss affected German energy security and internal security.
Authorities in Kyiv stated on Thursday that they did not have sufficient information about the case to respond in detail to the allegations by the German prosecution. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he had not yet received full details of the charges, which were served that day. "The relevant authorities of our countries will be in contact, and when we receive more details, we will probably be able to respond. For now, it is too early to speak," he said.
Russia and Western countries had described the explosions in September 2022, which occurred after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine that same year, as sabotage. The detonations damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, a major route for Russian gas exports to Europe, as well as the not-yet-operational Nord Stream 2 branch. At that time, Moscow had recently stopped gas supplies via Nord Stream 1 and blamed Western sanctions and technical problems, while Europe accused Russia of weaponising energy supplies.
Source: Cyprus Mail
Source: Cyprus Mail