BERLIN, August 14. /TASS/. The probe into the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines is a top priority for the German government, deputy spokesman Wolfgang Buechner told a news briefing in Berlin.

"The investigation into the sabotage on Nord Streams is a top priority for the German government," he assured reporters, commenting on media reports saying that German prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor suspected of a role in sabotaging the natural gas pipelines.

However, the deputy government spokesman refused to say if Germany had contacted Poland or Ukraine over the issue. Buechner also emphasized that the German investigation into some individuals had not aggravated his country’s relations with Ukraine.

Earlier, the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported, citing a joint probe by ARD television and Die Zeit newspaper, that the German Federal Public Prosecutor had issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor suspected of having played a role in sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines. While the suspect’s last known whereabouts were in Poland, he has reportedly disappeared.

German prosecutors are also investigating two other Ukrainian diving instructors, including a woman, the SZ newspaper said. Together, the three are suspected to have formed the crew of the yacht Andromeda at the center of the German investigation.

The German Federal Public Prosecutor refused to comment on the reports to TASS.

The Nord Stream AG company reported on September 27, 2022, that three threads of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 offshore gas pipelines had suffered unprecedented damage. Swedish seismologists recorded two explosions along the Nord Stream pipelines on September 26. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office launched an investigation into an act of international terrorism over damage to the pipelines. US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh later published an article claiming that US Navy divers, with the assistance of Norwegian specialists, had planted explosive devices under the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in June 2022. In turn, the New York Times reported, citing US officials, that a certain "pro-Ukrainian" group may have committed the act of sabotage on the gas pipelines.