BERLIN, August 21. /TASS/. A Ukrainian man has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, the German Federal Public Prosecutor General's Office said.
According to it, "on the night of August 21, 2025, on the basis of a European arrest warrant issued by an investigating judge of the Federal Court on August 18, 2025, Ukrainian citizen Sergey K. was arrested by the Carabinieri in a joint operation with the international police cooperation service in Italy's province of Rimini." The man "is suspected of complicity in organizing explosions and unlawful sabotage," the statement said.
The German prosecution said that "Sergey K. was part of a group of individuals who planted explosive devices on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines near the island of Bornholm in September 2022." "The detainee was allegedly one of the coordinators of the operation. He and his accomplices used a sailing yacht that had left Rostock as a means of transport," the agency said.
According to the prosecutor's office, the yacht was previously rented from a German company by intermediaries using forged identity documents. "The explosive devices detonated on September 26, 2022. As a result of the explosions, both gas pipelines were seriously damaged," the German prosecutor's office noted. They also said that the man will appear before a Federal Court investigating judge after extradition from Italy.
On September 26, 2022, three strings of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines sustained enormous damage. The latter had not yet been put into operation. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Moscow is certain that the Nord Stream sabotage was carried out with US support. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has opened an investigation into an act of international terrorism.