German prosecutors say Ukrainian national charged over Nord Stream sabotage acted on behalf of Ukrainian authorities

Germany's Federal Prosecutor has published an official statement announcing charges against Ukrainian national Serhii Kuznietsov in connection with the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, stating that he and other members of the group acted as Ukrainian servicemen.

Source: European Pravda

Details: According to the statement, the charges against Serhii Kuznietsov – identified as Serhii K. – were filed on 30 June and relate to aiding and abetting a war crime, namely carrying out an attack against civilian infrastructure.

The indictment states that Serhii was serving in the Ukrainian military at the time of the events and did not act on his own initiative.

The statement says that following the start of Russia's full-scale war in late February 2022, Serhii K. and other servicemen, acting on behalf of Ukrainian state authorities, developed a plan to destroy the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines with the aim of permanently halting gas supplies through the pipelines and preventing Russia from using gas revenues to finance the war.

Serhii is described as the leader of the sabotage group that carried out the operation.

Reports that Kuznietsov had been formally charged appeared earlier in German media.

Background:

• Kuznietsov has been in custody in Hamburg since being arrested while on holiday in Italy last summer and subsequently extradited to Germany.
• According to The Wall Street Journal, German investigators believe the group of Ukrainians acted under the command of Valerii Zaluzhnyi, then commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has maintained that Ukraine was not involved in the explosions on the gas pipelines.

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