Update (0636 EST): According to Russian Telegram page SHOT, Vladimir Zhuravlev is the aforementioned suspect. He reportedly attempted to gain Russian citizenship in 2009..As this publication reported in 2023, several Ukrainian suspects were being investigated after German media broke the story of an intricate plot by Ukrainian nationals to destroy the the Nord Stream 1 (NS1) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) natural gas pipelines in September 2022..That investigation has borne fruit as the German Federal Prosecutor General announced it has obtained an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian national in connection with the sabotage. The man has been named as Volodymyr Z. and he was last reported to be in Poland. This suspect and two others, a man and a woman are confirmed to have been near the pipelines on a German yacht called Andromeda, which we previously reported. The suspect was reportedly identified by the white van he used to transport the diving material to the marina where the Andromeda set off from..The Polish Prosecutor's Office announced that the suspect was no longer in Poland and thus could not be apprehended for extradition..The clandestine nature of the operation and the ability of the suspects to evade German and Polish authorities points to the Ukrainian intelligence services. However, it is not clear how the suspects were able to receive the highly technical training and equipment to carry out such an operation.
Update (0636 EST): According to Russian Telegram page SHOT, Vladimir Zhuravlev is the aforementioned suspect. He reportedly attempted to gain Russian citizenship in 2009..As this publication reported in 2023, several Ukrainian suspects were being investigated after German media broke the story of an intricate plot by Ukrainian nationals to destroy the the Nord Stream 1 (NS1) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) natural gas pipelines in September 2022..That investigation has borne fruit as the German Federal Prosecutor General announced it has obtained an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian national in connection with the sabotage. The man has been named as Volodymyr Z. and he was last reported to be in Poland. This suspect and two others, a man and a woman are confirmed to have been near the pipelines on a German yacht called Andromeda, which we previously reported. The suspect was reportedly identified by the white van he used to transport the diving material to the marina where the Andromeda set off from..The Polish Prosecutor's Office announced that the suspect was no longer in Poland and thus could not be apprehended for extradition..The clandestine nature of the operation and the ability of the suspects to evade German and Polish authorities points to the Ukrainian intelligence services. However, it is not clear how the suspects were able to receive the highly technical training and equipment to carry out such an operation.
