From RFI · · 3m
Ukrainian officer on trial for Nord Stream pipeline blasts
A former Ukrainian military officer becomes the first person to face court over the 2022 explosions that damaged Russian gas pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea.
In brief
A former Ukrainian military officer becomes the first person to face court over the 2022 explosions that damaged Russian gas pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea. Serhii K., a former Ukrainian military officer, went on trial in Hamburg for allegedly leading the team that sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines in September…
First trial over pipeline sabotage
Proceedings opened on Wednesday at Hamburg's Higher Regional Court against Serhii K., a fifty-year-old former Ukrainian military officer accused of leading the team behind the twenty twenty-two explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines…
The accused and his team
German prosecutors accuse Serhii K. of organising a team that included divers, an explosives expert and a boat captain to carry out the operation.
Entry to Germany
Prosecutors allege that Serhii K. entered Germany in early September twenty twenty-two using a forged Ukrainian passport before the group boarded a yacht hired in Rostock.
The explosions
According to the indictment, military-grade explosive charges fitted with timers were attached to the pipelines on the seabed near the Danish island of Bornholm.
Damage on September twenty-sixth
Several blasts were recorded on twenty-six September twenty twenty-two, damaging three of the four Nord Stream pipelines and sending large plumes of methane into the atmosphere.
What the pipelines carried
Nord Stream one had carried Russian gas directly to Germany, while Nord Stream two had been completed but never entered commercial operation.
The charges against him
Serhii K. faces charges including causing an explosion, destroying infrastructure and disrupting public services, as well as complicity in a war crime involving an attack on civilian infrastructure.
Prosecutors' motive theory
Prosecutors allege that the operation was carried out on behalf of unidentified Ukrainian state bodies and was intended to deprive Russia of revenue from gas sales used to help finance its war in Ukraine.
Serhii K. denies involvement
Serhii K. denies involvement in the sabotage. His lawyers have challenged the German court's jurisdiction and may argue that the pipelines were legitimate military targets.
Ukraine's official stance
Kyiv has consistently denied orchestrating the sabotage, although Ukrainian officials have welcomed the destruction of the pipelines as a blow to Moscow's ability to finance the war.
Russia's response
Moscow has rejected suggestions that it was behind the blasts and says it expects the trial to establish both who carried out the attack and who ordered it.
Another suspect in custody
Croatian authorities have arrested Volodymyr Z., alleged to have been one of the divers involved. Croatia has approved his extradition to Germany, although he is appealing the decision.
Trial continues into February
The hearings are scheduled to continue into February twenty twenty-seven, providing the first public examination of evidence gathered during Germany's long-running investigation.
The main idea
Serhii K., a former Ukrainian military officer, went on trial in Hamburg for allegedly leading the team that sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines in September twenty twenty-two, the first prosecution over the attack.
