Croatian court approves extradition in Nord Stream bombing case

Nord Stream sabotage suspect to be extradited from Croatia; court ruling faces appeal with final decision still pending

Gas leaks from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea, south of Dueodde on the Danish island of Bornholm, on September 27, 2022 [File: Danish Defence/AFP]

A Croatian court has approved the extradition of a Ukrainian man wanted in Germany in connection with the 2022 undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

The man was arrested on a European warrant in the northern Croatian town of Pula in August while reportedly working on a Hollywood dramatisation of the attack, according to the AFP news agency.

list 1 of 3 German prosecutors charge Ukrainian suspect over Nord Stream explosions

list 2 of 3 Ukrainian suspect, a ‘trained scuba diver’, arrested over Nord Stream blast

list 3 of 3 Nord Stream bombings put Ukraine’s ties with Germany under pressure

On Thursday, his lawyer, Ljubo Pavasovic Viskovic, said the court approved the extradition on September 18.

Pavasovic Viskovic added that the ruling is not final and will be appealed, so it is unclear when or whether the extradition will take place.

German prosecutors identified the man as Vladimir Z.

They said the suspect was a “trained scuba diver” who was part of a team that allegedly “planted explosives” on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm.

The undersea blasts on September 26, 2022, damaged the pipelines, which had been built to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

In July, German federal prosecutors filed charges against a former Ukrainian army officer in connection with the explosions.

Prosecutors accuse Vladimir Z of working closely with another Ukrainian identified by German prosecutors as Serhii K . He was detained in August 2025 during a raid on the bungalow in an Italian village where he was staying with his family. He was then extradited to Germany in November last year.

Serhii K is due to face trial at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court on October 14, and the proceedings could continue through February 2027.

The Nord Stream attacks came months after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, destroying three of the four pipelines of the major energy link at a time when European countries were trying to gradually wean themselves off Russian energy.

German investigators believe a Ukrainian state agency ordered the attack to deprive Russia of revenues to finance its invasion of Ukraine.

The case is politically awkward for Germany and Ukraine, as Berlin has been one of Kyiv’s strongest supporters in its fight against Russia.

German government officials, when asked about the issue, have pointed to the judiciary’s independence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his government knew nothing about any plan to blow up the pipelines.

涉嫌破坏北溪天然气管道项目的嫌疑人将被从克罗地亚引渡；法院裁决面临上诉，最终决定尚未作出。

2022年9月27日，波罗的海北溪2号天然气管道在丹麦博恩霍尔姆岛杜埃德以南发生天然气泄漏。[图片：丹麦国防部/法新社]

克罗地亚一家法院批准引渡一名乌克兰男子，该男子因涉嫌参与2022年破坏北溪天然气管道的海底爆炸事件而被德国通缉。

据法新社报道，该男子于 8 月在克罗地亚北部城市普拉被捕，当时他据称正在参与好莱坞对这起袭击事件的戏剧化改编工作。

德国检察官就北溪天然气管道爆炸事件对乌克兰嫌疑人提起诉讼（共3项指控，此为第1项）

名单之二：乌克兰嫌疑人，一名“受过训练的潜水员”，因北溪天然气管道爆炸事件被捕

北溪天然气管道爆炸事件三起，令乌克兰与德国的关系承压

周四，他的律师柳博·帕瓦索维奇·维斯科维奇表示，法院已于9月18日批准引渡。

帕瓦索维奇·维斯科维奇补充说，该裁决并非最终裁决，将会提起上诉，因此尚不清楚引渡何时或是否会进行。

德国检察官确认该男子为弗拉基米尔·Z。

他们说，嫌疑人是一名“训练有素的潜水员”，他所在的团队涉嫌在波罗的海靠近丹麦博恩霍尔姆岛的北溪1号和北溪2号天然气管道上“安放爆炸物”。

2022 年 9 月 26 日的海底爆炸损坏了输油管道，这些管道是为将天然气从俄罗斯输送到德国而建的，位于波罗的海海底。

7月，德国联邦检察官对一名乌克兰前军官提起诉讼，指控其与爆炸事件有关。

检方指控弗拉基米尔·Z与另一名乌克兰人谢尔盖·K（德国检方确认其身份）密切合作。2025年8月，弗拉基米尔·Z在意大利一处村庄的平房内与家人居住时被捕。去年11月，他被引渡回德国。

Serhii K 将于 10 月 14 日在汉堡高等地区法院接受审判，诉讼程序可能会持续到 2027 年 2 月。

北溪管道袭击事件发生在俄罗斯 2022 年全面入侵乌克兰数月之后，当时俄罗斯摧毁了这条主要能源连接线上的四条管道中的三条，而欧洲国家当时正试图逐步摆脱对俄罗斯能源的依赖。

德国调查人员认为，乌克兰国家机构下令发动此次袭击，目的是剥夺俄罗斯的收入，从而阻止其入侵乌克兰。

对于德国和乌克兰来说，这起案件在政治上很尴尬，因为柏林一直是基辅对抗俄罗斯的最坚定支持者之一。

当被问及此事时，德国政府官员都强调了司法独立性。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基表示，他的政府对任何炸毁输油管道的计划都毫不知情。