The suspect in the Nord Stream bombing will be extradited to Germany

Ukrainian Sergey Kuznetsovsuspected of involvement in gas pipeline explosion “Nord Stream”will be extradited from Italy to Germany. His lawyer reported this, referring to the decision Italian court.

According to the defense, the court in Bologna approved the request Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Germany for the extradition of the accused who is charged with unconstitutional sabotage and organizing explosions on the pipeline in September 2022. Thus, the suspect will appear in court in Germany.

Initially, consent to extradition was given back in September, but the Ukrainian’s lawyer Nicola Canestrini submitted appeal to the Supreme Court Italy. After this, the process was suspended due to procedural violations, and the case was returned for retrial. Now the new court has confirmed its decision on extradition.

According to investigators, Sergey Kuznetsov led a group of seven people, including four divers. They are credited with renting a sailing yacht “Andromeda” in Germany, where they allegedly went out into the Baltic Sea to install explosives on gas pipelines.

According to the prosecutor’s office, this group could have acted in the interests of third parties, but specific customers of the explosion have not yet been officially named. German investigators continue to check leads, including possible connections with foreign intelligence services.

Earlier it became known that a court in Warsaw rejected Germany’s request to extradite Ukrainian citizen Vladimir Zhuravlev, who is involved in the case of blowing up gas pipelines “Nord Stream” and “Nord Stream – 2”Polish media reported on Friday, October 17. At the same time, the court decided to release Zh. from custody. Judge Dariusz Lubowski stressed that Berlin’s extradition request “not worth considering”.

“And rightly so. Case closed.”– Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk commented on the social network X about the court decision in Warsaw.

Ukrainian edition “Grati” writesthat the Polish court considered that the German side did not provide sufficient evidence of involvement Zhuravlev to undermine the Nord Streams. In addition, the publication reports, the court assessed whether the action charged to Zhuravlev was a crime from the point of view of Polish law. “And the action that is being charged was carried out in the context of the criminal and genocidal war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2014,” – the court ruled.

The meeting was held behind closed doors, but journalists were allowed to hear the court’s decision.

The case of sabotage “Nord Stream” remains one of the most high-profile and politically sensitive investigations in recent years, involving intelligence services from several countries EU.

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