By Anthony Marcus, correspondent. Eurasia Business News, August 21, 2025. Article n°1732
A Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022 has been arrested in Italy. The individual, identified as Serhii Kuznetsov, was taken into custody by Italian authorities in the Rimini province. German prosecutors say he is believed to have been one of the key coordinators of the operation that involved placing explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea near Denmark’s Bornholm island.
The name Serhii Kuznetsov was reported by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra. The 49-year-old was identified by the carabinieri in a bungalow of a tourist complex in San Clemente, near Misano Adriatico, on the Romagna Riviera. He had arrived by car with his wife and two children for a holiday.
Serhii Kuznetsov is considered the commander of the yacht “Andromeda”, used on September 26, 2022 to transport the raiders who blew up the two Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany.
The former Ukrainian special force officer did not resist, he was identified and taken to prison in Rimini, waiting to appear in the coming days before the judge for the validation hearing. Then the procedures for extradition to Germany will start.
The sabotage, which took place in September 2022, caused significant damage to the pipelines, which were crucial for transporting Russian gas to Europe. The attack was carried out by a group that reportedly chartered a yacht from the German port of Rostock using forged identity documents. German investigators have pointed to a pro-Ukrainian faction behind the explosions, while Ukraine denies involvement. The suspect is expected to be extradited to Germany, where he will face charges including conspiracy to incite an explosion, sabotage, and destruction of property.
This arrest marks the first in connection with the high-profile act of sabotage, with German authorities hailing it as a significant investigative achievement. The incident significantly impacted energy supplies in Europe during the ongoing conflict involving Ukraine and Russia.
According to the revelations of several German media unveiled in August 2024, investigators had located one of the members of the diver commando west of Warsaw. If the involvement of the Ukrainian state is not proven, the role of Poland, on the other hand, is being questioned, in Berlin in any case.
The explosion of the three lines of the NordStream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines would have been planned back in 2014, before the entry of Crimea into Russia and the start of the armed conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, wrote in July 2024 the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing data from German and international investigators and special services.
In November 2023, the U.S. newspaper Washington Post and the German newspaper Der Spiegel, citing Ukrainian and European officials, claimed the explosion of three lines of the Nord Stream 1 and NordStream 2 gas pipelines in September 2022 was coordinated by the former commander of a special operations unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Roman Chervinsky.
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