Germany has issued a European arrest warrant against a Ukrainian diving instructor who allegedly was part of a team that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, according to a report by three German media outlets published on Wednesday.
German investigators believe that the man, last known to have lived in Poland, was one of the divers who planted explosive devices on pipelines running from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea in September 2022, the SZ and Die Zeit newspapers reported alongside the ARD broadcaster, citing unnamed sources.
The German prosecutor general’s office declined to comment on the report, which said that Germany had asked Poland in June to arrest the man.
The Polish public prosecutor’s office had no immediate comment on the matter.
On Wednesday, the Spiegel news magazine reported that the suspect was since thought to have left Poland, citing security sources.
Another man and a woman – also Ukrainian diving instructors – have been identified in Germany’s investigation into the suspected sabotage but so far no arrest warrants have been issued for them, the report by SZ, Zeit and ARD said.
It remains a mystery who was behind the explosions that destroyed three out of four pipelines, which became a symbol of German reliance on gas from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Russia and the west have accused one another of being responsible. Each has denied involvement.
A Swedish investigation found traces of explosives on several objects recovered from the site, which confirmed that the blasts were deliberate acts.
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In January 2023, German prosecutors raided a ship that it said might have been used to transport explosives and it told the UN that it believed trained divers could have attached devices to the pipelines at about 70 to 80 metres deep.