Ukrainian Nord Stream suspect faces extradition to Germany from Croatia

A Croatian court has approved the extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian national wanted in connection with the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines, AP reports.

The suspect, identified by German prosecutors as Vladimir Z., was arrested in the Croatian city of Pula in August under a European arrest warrant.

His lawyer, Ljubo Pavaskovic, said that the defense would appeal the court’s September 18 ruling. It was not immediately clear when the suspect could be extradited to Germany.

German prosecutors have described Vladimir Z. as a trained scuba diver who allegedly worked with others to plant explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea near Denmark’s Bornholm Island.

The undersea explosions on September 26, 2022, damaged three of the pipelines’ four strings. The pipelines had been built to transport Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

The German prosecutor’s office confirmed that Vladimir Z. is the same man who was arrested in Poland last year but later released after a Polish court rejected Germany’s extradition request. Polish authorities identified him as Volodymyr Zhuravlov.

German authorities allege that the suspects used a yacht rented from a German company, employing forged identification documents and intermediaries, and departed from the German port of Rostock.

In July, German federal prosecutors also filed charges against another former Ukrainian army officer in connection with the explosions. Serhii K. was detained in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November.

The explosions ruptured Nord Stream 1, Russia’s main natural gas supply route to Germany until Moscow halted deliveries in August 2022. They also damaged Nord Stream 2, which had never entered service after Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

By Vafa Guliyeva