A warrant for the arrest of Ukrainians for the explosion of the Nord Stream pipeline
The man who was last resident in Poland was apparently able to flee to the Ukraine before his arrest, the Polish prosecutor's office told the AFP news agency. Although German authorities had transmitted a European arrest warrant for the suspect "Volodymyr Z." in June, they had not entered the suspect into the wanted persons register, according to the Polish judiciary.
"Polish border guards had no knowledge and no grounds for the arrest of Volodymyr Z.", the statement from Warsaw continued. Therefore, the man was able to return to the Ukraine unhindered at the beginning of July.
According to media reports, German investigators believe that the Ukrainian was one of the divers who placed explosives on the Nord Stream pipelines. Further suspects from the Ukraine are also being investigated, who are also divers, but no arrest warrant has been issued against them yet. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly denied any involvement of his country.
A spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor's Office refused to confirm the arrest warrant. "I ask for understanding that we do not comment on media reporting in principle and also do not make statements on arrest warrants as a matter of principle", she said.
In September 2022 - amidst geopolitical tensions surrounding Russia's invasion of Ukraine - four large gas leaks were discovered on the two Nord Stream pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm and the Swedish coast. Shortly before, seismic institutes had recorded two underwater explosions.
The pipelines were built for the transport of Russian gas to Germany. At the time of the explosions, they were no longer in operation, but contained gas.
The German government does not see the relationships with Ukraine as strained by the arrest warrant against the Ukrainian suspect. The arrest warrant of the Federal Prosecutor's Office has "nothing to do with the political relations with Ukraine at first", said government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner.
"It's about the legal processing of a criminally relevant event, for which the Federal Prosecutor's Office is responsible", Büchner said further. "The procedure is completely independent of the fact that we will support Ukraine, as the Federal Chancellor has repeatedly said, in its defensive struggle against this violation of international law for as long as necessary."
The government spokesman did not want to comment on the status of the investigations with reference to the responsibility of the judiciary. In general, Büchner said, "the investigations are being conducted according to the rule of law, regardless of the person". Irrespective of the possible findings of the investigation, "nothing changes in the fact that Russia is waging a violation of international law against Ukraine".
The Green secret service expert Konstantin von Notz warned against jumping to conclusions. Towards the Funke newspapers, he welcomed the progress of the investigation, but added: "However, we are still far from understanding the whole story, because such investigations are extremely difficult when it comes to the involvement of state or quasi-state actors."
The man who fled to avoid arrest in Poland found safety in the Ukrainian region.Despite denials from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, suspects from Ukraine, including divers, are being investigated in connection with the Nord Stream pipeline explosions.
