German federal prosecutors have charged a former Ukrainian military officer with co-perpetrating a war crime in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions, alleging he acted on behalf of Ukrainian state entities.
In a statement on Thursday, prosecutors said they had brought charges against Serhii K., identified under German privacy laws only by his first name and initial, before a regional court in Hamburg.
They accuse him of acting as a co-perpetrator in a war crime involving an attack on civilian objects, causing an explosion, destroying infrastructure and disrupting public services.
Authorities in Kyiv said on Thursday that they did not have enough information about the case to respond in detail to German prosecutors’ allegations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that he had yet to receive full details of the indictment, which had been served that day. The list of charges was published on Thursday.
Attack Aimed To Halt Moscow’s Gas Revenue, Prosecutors Say
Russia and Western countries have described the September 2022 blasts, which followed Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier that year, as sabotage.
The explosions damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, a vital route for Russian gas exports to Europe, as well as the Nord Stream 2 branch, which had yet to enter service.
At the time of the alleged attack, Moscow had recently halted gas deliveries via Nord Stream 1, blaming Western sanctions and technical issues, though Europe accused it of weaponising energy supplies.
According to the German indictment, Serhii K. was an officer in the Ukrainian army in 2022 and, acting on behalf of Ukrainian state entities, helped develop a plan with other military personnel to destroy Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2.
Alleged Operation Involved Yacht, Forged Documents And Explosives
The aim, prosecutors said, was to permanently halt gas deliveries via the pipelines and prevent Russia from using revenue from the natural gas trade to finance its war efforts.
The suspect allegedly led a team of divers, a skipper and an explosives expert, entering Germany in September 2022 using a forged Ukrainian passport and boarding a yacht rented with fake documents.
Prosecutors said the group transported military-grade explosives through international waters near Denmark’s Bornholm island before attaching them to the Nord Stream pipelines and triggering timed detonations on the Baltic Sea floor.
Serhii K. was arrested in Italy in August and extradited to Germany in November. He denies involvement, though his lawyer in Italy welcomed the indictment and called for a public examination of the facts.
German law provides for a minimum three-year sentence for directing attacks on civilian infrastructure, and authorities say the case falls under German jurisdiction due to the pipelines’ endpoint and impact on national energy security.
(With inputs from Reuters)
