Sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines: four years later, a Ukrainian on trial in Germany

A Ukrainian national is standing trial in Hamburg, Germany, for allegedly orchestrating the sabotage of the Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 in September 2022. The accused, Sergei Kuznetsov, faces charges including war crimes and disrupting public services. The trial began on October 14, 2026, and is expected to last until February 2027. In September 2022, explosions damaged both Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Baltic Sea, severing gas supplies between Russia and Germany. The damage caused multiple leaks and cost hundreds of millions of euros in repairs. At the time, a team of seven individuals reportedly boarded a vessel heading toward the Danish island of Bornholm. The group included skippers, professional divers, and explosives experts who spent several days installing bombs on the pipeline infrastructure before detonating them on September 26, 2022. Kuznetsov is described as the mastermind behind the operation. According to the German federal prosecutors, his goal was to prevent Russia from using revenue from natural gas sales to fund its military operations. However, this objective had already been partially achieved prior to the attacks, as Nord Stream 1 had ceased operations at the beginning of September 2022, and Nord Stream 2 was never commissioned due to the conflict with Ukraine. The German judiciary has not allowed the Swiss companies Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG, majority-owned by Russian company Gazprom, to pursue the case as civil parties. European diplomatic relations are central to this affair. The search for suspects took place across Europe. Kuznetsov was arrested in Italy in August 2025 during his vacation before being extradited to Germany. In August 2026, a second suspect was detained in Croatia and awaits a decision from Croatian authorities regarding his potential extradition to Germany. One of the key issues in the trial will be maintaining the strategic relationship between Germany and Ukraine, which publicly display their mutual goodwill. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that his country was neither responsible for executing nor designing the operation itself. He added that it is crucial for Ukraine to maintain trust with European countries supporting it. On the Russian side, the Kremlin’s spokesperson called for the identification of both perpetrators and sponsors of the explosions, stating that there is no doubt about the identity of these individuals.