Poland received a European arrest warrant issued by Berlin regarding the 2022 attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, but the suspect, a Ukrainian man named Volodymyr Z, has already left the country, Polish prosecutors informed Reuters.
He managed to escape because Germany failed to include his name in a wanted persons database, according to the prosecutors.
The multi-billion dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which transport gas under the Baltic Sea, were damaged by a series of explosions in September 2022, shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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German investigators believe Volodymyr Z, a Ukrainian diver, was part of the team that planted the explosives, as reported by SZ and Die Zeit newspapers, along with ARD broadcaster, citing unnamed sources.
Anna Adamiak, a spokeswoman for the Polish National Public Prosecutor’s Office, stated that German authorities sent a European warrant to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw in June for Volodymyr Z in connection with ongoing proceedings in Germany.
“Ultimately, Volodymyr Z was not detained because, at the beginning of July, he left Polish territory, crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border,” she said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“The free crossing of the Polish-Ukrainian border by this individual was possible because German authorities did not include him in the wanted persons database, which meant that the Polish Border Guard had no information or grounds to detain Volodymyr Z.”
Polish law prohibits the publication of full names of suspects in criminal investigations.
Germany has stated that its relationship with Ukraine remains unaffected by the Nord Stream investigation.
“The procedures have no bearing on what Chancellor Olaf Scholz has described as support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s illegal war of aggression, as long as necessary,” a spokesperson added.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the German federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment on media reports.
In addition to Volodymyr Z, a married couple of Ukrainian diving instructors have been identified in Germany’s investigation into the sabotage, but no arrest warrants have been issued for them so far, according to SZ, Die Zeit, and ARD.
The woman stated in an interview with broadcaster Welt that neither she nor her husband were involved, emphasizing that she was in Kyiv at the time of the pipeline attack.
The explosions damaged three out of four Nord Stream pipelines, which had become a controversial symbol of Germany’s reliance on Russian gas following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has accused the United States, Britain, and Ukraine of being responsible for the blasts, which have effectively cut off Russian gas from the lucrative European market. Those countries have denied any involvement.
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden all launched investigations into the incident, with Swedish authorities finding traces of explosives on several objects recovered from the explosion site, confirming that the blasts were deliberate acts.
The investigations by Sweden and Denmark were closed in February without identifying any suspects.
