According to the investigation, Volodymyr was one of the passengers in a white Citroën that was spotted near Rügen on the night of September 8, 2022. The car is believed to have taken the crew to the Andromeda yacht, which was transporting divers to the detonation sites. Volodymyr was identified through photographs and witness statements, and this evidence was sufficient to issue an arrest warrant.
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The investigation also suspects two other citizens of Ukraine - a man and a woman. They are also believed to have been involved in the detonation, probably as divers placing explosive charges on the pipelines.
Information about other suspects is based, among other things, on foreign intelligence.
Investigators were able to gather enough evidence in recent months to obtain an arrest warrant for Ukrainian Volodymyr from the investigating judge of the Federal Court in early June.
In June, German prosecutors applied to Polish authorities for a European arrest warrant in the hope that the suspect would be arrested. The Polish side did not respond to the German request for legal assistance, and the German government did not know until the last moment how the Poles would deal with the arrest warrant.
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According to the general rules of the European Arrest Warrant, which Germany and Poland consider binding, the arrest could be expected within 60 days without further consideration by Poland. This term has now expired.
German journalists contacted the suspect Volodymyr by phone, and he said that this was the first time he heard about the suspicion and denied participation in the gas pipeline undermining.
As is known, the underwater explosions on the routes of the Nord Stream-1 and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines, which were built to transport russian natural gas to Germany, occurred on September 26, 2022 in international waters, but within the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark.
Sweden closed the investigation on February 7 on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction to continue it. It is noted that the main purpose of the investigation was to establish whether Sweden or its citizens were somehow involved in the incident. Swedish officials also said they had handed Germany "material that could be used as evidence in the German investigation."
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At the same time, Germany's federal prosecutor's office said that its investigation is ongoing and that Germany will not provide more information on the matter.
Earlier, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur stated that russia may try to divert attention from Ukraine with incidents on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
