Kuznetsov, a Ukrainian national accused of sabotaging the ‘Nord Stream’ pipelines, is to stand trial in Germany in October
This is reported by ‘Suspilne’, citing Kuznetsov’s lawyer, Mykola Katerynchuk.
Katerynchuk stated that the judge had telephoned Serhiy’s German lawyers and they had agreed on a provisional date. The defence also has until 21 August to submit its position to the German court regarding the indictment against the Ukrainian national.
The ‘Nord Stream’ pipeline explosions: what is known
On 26 September 2022, three explosions occurred on the ‘Nord Stream 1’ and “Nord Stream 2” pipelines, which run along the seabed of the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, three explosions occurred, causing massive gas leaks. Only one of the four pipeline strands remained intact.
On 26 August 2025, German investigators issued arrest warrants for six Ukrainians suspected of carrying out the sabotage. Serhiy Kuznetsov, a Ukrainian national who was detained in Italy and is suspected of involvement in the sabotage, denies the charges. In November, Kuznetsov was extradited from Italy to Germany. He was arrested the following day.
In November, the Verkhovna Rada’s Human Rights Commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote a letter to an Italian court in which, for the first time on behalf of the state, he acknowledged that at the time of the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines, Kuznetsov was serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
At the same time, a Polish court refused to extradite another suspect in the case — Vladimir Zhuravlev. The court ruled that Germany had provided insufficient evidence, and that the act of which Zhuravlev is accused “was carried out in the context of the criminal and genocidal war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2014”.
On 2 July, the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office published the text of the charges brought against Kuznetsov. They relate to the following offences: complicity in a war crime — an attack on civilian targets; organising an explosion using explosive substances; destruction of structures; and obstructing the operations of enterprises that meet public needs.
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