WARSAW
A Polish court blocked the extradition of a Ukrainian national wanted by Germany over the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Friday.
“Polish court denied extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian national suspected of blowing up Nord Stream 2 and released him from custody. And rightly so. The case is closed,” Tusk said in a post on US social media company X.
The 46-year-old suspect, identified as Volodymyr Z. under Polish privacy laws, was arrested near Warsaw in late September following a German warrant accusing him of involvement in the underwater blasts that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.
German prosecutors described the man as a trained diver allegedly part of a group that placed explosives on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm. He is one of two Ukrainian nationals Germany is seeking to extradite in connection with the case.
Volodymyr Z. was arrested on suspicion of sabotage, destruction of property, and destruction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline infrastructure.
The pipelines, which for years had shipped Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Europe, were damaged by huge blasts just months after Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He was wanted on a European arrest warrant issued by the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe on suspicion of constitutional sabotage, destruction of property, and destruction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The offense is punishable by up to 15 years in prison under German law.
