In the case of the blown-up Nord Stream pipelines, a suspect has now been arrested for the first time. The Ukrainian is said to be one of the coordinators. Will the mystery of who the masterminds are now being solved?

By Manuel Bewarder WDR/NDR, Florian Flade SZ, Michael Götschenberg RBB, Georg Heil RBB, Holger Schmidt SWR

Once before, last August, German investigators thought they were close to their goal. They had been searching for a diver from Ukraine with a European arrest warrant. In the summer of 2024, Volodymyr Z. was finally tracked down in Poland – and now, the German officials hoped, their colleagues abroad would arrest him. But for days, that didn't happen. Until the man was finally able to flee from Ukraine across the border to his home country with official assistance.

Now, one year after this missed attempt in Poland and almost three years after the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines, investigators are finally celebrating a success: As the Federal Prosecutor General announced, Ukrainian citizen Serhii K. was arrested in the Italian province of Rimini overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. This is the first arrest of a suspect in connection with one of the largest acts of sabotage in Europe.

Lengthy investigations

Investigations by ARD, Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), and Die Zeit have repeatedly shown in recent years how investigators from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Federal Police, commissioned by the Federal Prosecutor General, were making step-by-step progress in their search for suspects. A few weeks ago, German authorities were hopeful that further progress would soon be possible.

Now, in the case of the arrest in Italy, things moved quite quickly, according to the Federal Prosecutor General: The European arrest warrant was issued on Monday, August 18. The arrest took place just a few days later.

Arrested man is suspected key figure

According to the Federal Prosecutor General, Serhii K. is believed to be a key player. He is allegedly one of the coordinators of the operation in September 2022. According to the arrest warrant, K., like Volodymyr Z., is said to be part of the group that allegedly placed explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. According to research, investigators have identified several suspects, including civilians and individuals with military training.

According to previous investigations, the attackers are said to have been sailing the Baltic Sea on the German sailing yacht"Andromeda" in September 2022. They are said to have previously rented the vessel in Rostock using forged identification documents and through a company in Warsaw. Divers are then said to have attached the explosives with time fuses to the pipelines on the seabed. On September 26, 2022, three of the four strands of the two pipelines were finally destroyed.

Other countries, such as Sweden and Denmark, had already closed their investigations into the case. However, the Federal Prosecutor General continued his proceedings on suspicion of"intentionally causing an explosion" and "anti-constitutional sabotage." Serhii K. is also accused of"destruction of buildings," according to the Karlsruhe authority's statement.

Nord Stream continues to attract criticism

For several years, a large portion of Russian natural gas for Germany had been delivered directly via Nord Stream 1. While the German government had for years spoken of and promoted a private-sector project, many Eastern European countries, as well as the United States and Great Britain, had strongly criticized the project. They warned of the geopolitical consequences of bypassing Eastern Europe in the supply of Russian gas.

After the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia had already suspended deliveries via Nord Stream 1 before the pipelines were destroyed. Due to the political disputes, the Nord Stream 2 pipelines had not yet gone into operation.

Occasionally, calls are heard to put the undamaged section of Nord Stream 2 into operation and to repair other sections. Similar voices also come from the CDU/CSU and SPD. However, a recent letter from Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) stated that the government would oppose"commissioning or recommissioning." The discussion gained momentum after US investors reportedly expressed interest in the operating company.

Arrest could provide crucial clues

For German investigators, the arrest could be a breakthrough in learning more about the true background of the attack, including who commissioned it. Did Ukrainians or even the Ukrainian government order the attack? Or are the attacks on Nord Stream a"false flag" operation intended to shift suspicion onto Ukraine?

German security sources say there is no evidence to support the latter assumption. And even if the perpetrator group did operate from Ukraine, did they have a government mandate or government support? Or who was acting?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has consistently denied his government's involvement in the attacks. The latest arrest could soon shed more light on the matter.