Nord Stream: second suspect arrested on suspicion of sabotage
A Ukrainian national has been arrested in Croatia under a European arrest warrant issued by Germany
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Key points
A second suspect has been arrested in Croatia in connection with the 2022 explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. The man in question is Volodymyr Zhuravlov, a Ukrainian national who, according to the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, was arrested in the Croatian city of Pula under a European arrest warrant.
The prime suspect in the case, former Ukrainian army officer Serhij Kuznietsov, was charged by German prosecutors in July with organising the explosions whilst acting on behalf of the Ukrainian state. The man had been arrested in Italia in August 2025 and transferred to Germany in November, and had denied any involvement in the explosions. The authorities in Kyiv have stated that they do not have sufficient information to respond in detail to the German allegations.
According to prosecutors, Zhuravlov is a trained diver and was part of a group led by Kuznietsov that is alleged to have planted explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. The man had previously been arrested in Poland in 2025, where a court had rejected the German extradition request and released him from custody.
The 2022 sabotage of Nord Stream
The explosions in September 2022 occurred following Moscow’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and damaged the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline – a key route for Russian gas exports to Europe – and Nord Stream 2, which was not yet operational. At the time, Moscow had recently cut off gas supplies via Nord Stream 1, attributing the decision to Western sanctions and technical problems, whilst Europe accused Russia of using energy supplies as a weapon. Russia and Western countries described the act as sabotage. The German prosecutors’ argument is that the aim of the alleged attack was to disrupt the gas supplies through which Russia was helping to finance the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The German courts have ruled that the case falls within their jurisdiction because the damaged gas pipelines terminate in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the leak has had consequences for Germany’s energy security and internal security.
