ROME, August 21. /TASS/. The name of the Ukrainian national suspected of playing a role in blowing up the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines is Sergey Kuznetsov, Corriere della Sera reported.

According to the newspaper, he arrived in Italy driving a CUV with a Ukrainian license plate for a vacation with his family.

Earlier, the police force in Rimini reported arresting a Ukrainian national, 49 in a local hotel on the basis of a European arrest warrant issued in Germany. He is suspected of complicity in organizing sabotage on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in September 2022. The arrest was first reported by prosecutors in Germany where he must be extradited.

The Italian procedure requires that judges first uphold the measure of restraint after which the court will rule on extradition, based on case files.

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.