Germany is stepping up an investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, issuing an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor suspected of involvement in the 2022 blast, BBC reports.
While German prosecutors declined to officially confirm the warrant, Poland confirmed receiving a European Arrest Warrant from Germany. The suspect, identified by German media as Volodymyr Z, is believed to have fled to Ukraine in early July, after Polish officers attempted to apprehend him at his home near Warsaw.
According to a joint investigation by three German media outlets, including public broadcaster ARD, Volodymyr Z was part of a team of experienced Ukrainian divers who allegedly hired a German yacht in September 2022. They then sailed to the Baltic Sea and planted explosives, causing the destruction of three of the four Nord Stream pipelines.
The probe also implicated a Ukrainian man and a Ukrainian woman in the sabotage. Prosecutors, however, do not have the answer to a larger question of who ordered the attack.
Theories abound about the motivations behind the attack, with speculation ranging from involvement of the Ukrainian or Russian governments to rogue military groups operating independently. The Nord Stream pipelines were designed to transport gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
