Tag: nordstream

Poland Arrests Ukrainian Diver Over Nord Stream Sabotage Explosions

The plot surrounding the mystery of the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage explosions and secret op continues to thicken, as Poland has on Tuesday issued a surprise announcement saying it has arrested a suspected connected with it.

“A Ukrainian man suspected of being involved in causing undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022 was arrested in Poland, a spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw said Tuesday,” The Associated Press reports.

Without irony or satire, the AP identifies further that “Volodymyr Z. was detained in Pruszkow, central Poland, according to Polish radio station RMF FM, which first reported his capture” – based on a European arrest warrant issued by German authorities. 

The man in custody has elsewhere been described, including in Reuters, as a Ukrainian diver wanted by Germany… and his name is Volodymr Z… though the reporting is not based on The Onion.

This is the second recent arrest related to the Nord Stream sabotage investigation, as last month another Ukrainian man was arrested in Italy in connection.

The mainstream media narrative on this major event which came early in the Ukraine war has shifted dramatically several times. In the opening months, the MSM was lockstep in collectively assuming Russia must have bombed its own key pipelines, effectively economically sabotaging itself and a (at the time) leading European energy export partner.

Then, as we highlighted, there was in 2024 the “bombshell” WSJ Nord Stream report which was a shift, but yet another attempt by mainstream gatekeepers to put official distance between President Zelensky and his supposedly ‘rogue’ top general at the time who ‘oversaw’ the covert op.

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Why is Germany covering for the terrorists that attacked it?

Once upon a time, long, long ago, scandals had consequences even in the West, at least sometimes. In the ancient US of 1974, Richard ‘Tricky Dick’ Nixon had to go because of Watergate, which, unlike Russiagate, was real, if hardly sensational by our standards today.

Even in the late 1990s, early post-unification Germany, the career of a giant like Helmut ‘chancellor of unification’ Kohl took a lethal hit from a rather boring affair turning on creative accounting in party finances. Indeed, biased media hype and liberal pearl-clutching was the whole brouhaha’s real essence. Without it, Angela Merkel might never have been able to knife her old benefactor Kohl in the back, and Gerhard Schroeder might not have become chancellor.

Now the West has devolved further. Our political elites in the US and EU have learned not to care, and more importantly, they have learned how to make us not care, or at least not enough. The worst political scandal of recent US history is the oddly inexplicable career of Jeffrey Epstein, convicted pedophile criminal and suspected intelligence operative as well as intimate friend of, it seems, most of the American establishment (in a thoroughly ‘bipartisan’ manner with vile favors to all). Its fall-out should already have profoundly changed America’s domestic and foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. And yet, it probably never will.

In NATO-EU Europe, things are at least equally dismal, as is appropriate for what is really just the most masochistic backyard of the American empire. There, the single worst scandal is what has happened to the Nord Stream pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic. Built at a cost of around $20 billion to bring inexpensive gas from Russia to Germany and the EU as a whole, in September 2022, they were mostly destroyed by sabotage.

That was the worst act of eco-terrorism in European history. Especially, with Russia and China now finalizing the building of the Power of Siberia Two pipeline, the destruction of Nord Stream will also be remembered as part of a historic reorientation of Eurasian energy flows that locked in Germany’s – and the EU’s – self-Morgenthauing de-industrialization.

This insane event was then followed by a most bizarre cover-up. Indeed, between the attack and the cover-up, it is impossible to tell which has been the more stunning, jaw-dropping outrage. But then, we don’t have to: the whole thing is one big mess.

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Left-Populist German MP Demands Zelensky Testify on Nord Stream Sabotage

German politician Sahra Wagenknecht has urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide testimony regarding the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions.

As leader of the left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), she insists on a parliamentary investigative committee to examine the incident. Her demands follow recent arrests that point to Ukrainian involvement in the sabotage.

The Nord Stream pipelines, which transported natural gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were damaged by explosions in September 2022.

A 49-year-old Ukrainian national was arrested in Italy on August 21, 2025, following a European arrest warrant issued by Germany.

The suspect, identified as Serhii K. in some reports, faces charges of causing an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage, and destruction of infrastructure. He was detained while vacationing with his family in the Rimini province and is awaiting extradition to Germany.

The arrest stems from evidence linking the man to a small team that allegedly used a yacht named Andromeda to place explosives on the pipelines.

Investigators believe he coordinated the operation, which involved Ukrainian divers operating from the vessel in the Baltic Sea. Reports indicate the suspect had served in Ukraine’s military, adding a layer to the ongoing probe.

This development follows an earlier warrant in June 2024 for another Ukrainian suspect, Volodymyr Z., who reportedly fled Poland to Ukraine after authorities there failed to act on the alert.

Polish prosecutors cited issues with the suspect’s address not being registered and deferred to their internal security service. All known suspects are now believed to be in Ukraine, complicating extradition efforts.

Wagenknecht argues that the operation likely involved state backing from Ukraine and possibly the U.S. under the Biden administration.

Wagenknecht references investigative journalist Seymour Hersh’s reports, which allege U.S. complicity in the sabotage.

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Ukrainian arrested in Italy over Nord Stream sabotage – German prosecutors

Italian police have arrested a Ukrainian man who it is claimed is suspected of involvement in the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, German prosecutors reported on Thursday.

The man, referred to only as Sergey K, was detained near Rimini on the basis of a European arrest warrant. German investigators believe he led a unit that blew up sections of the pipelines in September 2022.

The attacks, which ruptured both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, were, improbably, initially blamed on Russian operatives. But German prosecutors later traced a rented sailing yacht to the operation and linked it to Ukrainian nationals.

Investigators say Sergey K was part of a group that placed explosives on the pipelines near the island of Bornholm in September 2022. The accused was allegedly one of the coordinators of the operation. He and his accomplices are said to have used a sailing yacht that departed from the German city of Rostock. The vessel had previously been rented from a German company through intermediaries using forged identification documents. 

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Scandinavians, the World’s Happiest People, Love Killing for the USA

“If Russia invades—that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine—then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” President Joe Biden said standing next to the new Social Democrat chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, at a White House news conference, February 7, 2022.

When pressed for details on how he would keep that promise given that the pipeline is not under U.S. control, Biden stated: “I promise you, we will be able to do it.”

Scholz hedged, saying only that Germany was “acting together” with its allies and promising “very, very harsh” steps against Russia if it invades Ukraine.

Three weeks earlier, Undersecretary Victoria Nuland delivered the same message at a State Department briefing. “If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”

Nuland was Obama and Biden’s point woman for organizing the 2014 fascistic coup in Ukraine. She was caught on tape telling Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, who should run the coup government, as if she were in charge of Ukraine.

The coup took place three weeks later, February 24, 2014, and led to neo-fascist military battalions’ war against ethnic Russians in the Donbas area, and the Crimean secession.

On February 19, Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky made it clear his country would join NATO and he implied that he wished to have nuclear weapons. That, at least, is how Russia’s government interpreted what he sought when he spoke at the Munich Security Council.

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Six bombs used in Nord Stream sabotage – media

At least six bombs were used to cripple the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines and all four of the gas connector’s lines were mined, German newspaper Die Welt has claimed, citing court papers.

The pipelines, built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Western Europe, were destroyed by blasts at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in September 2022.

It was previously believed that the sabotage involved four explosive devices, the outlet noted in an article on Tuesday. However, Die Welt said its journalists had reviewed documents from a court case between Nord Stream AG and insurance companies, which suggest at least six bombs were detonated.

According to the paper, two additional damage sites have recently been found on the pipelines. They had not been noticed before because no gas leaked from the areas, the document alleges.

One of the damage sites was photographed by Swedish engineer Erik Andersen, who has investigated the explosions, the article said. One image reportedly captured traces of a blast on one of the lines of Nord Stream 2.

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US Investor Lynch Eyes Nord Stream 2 Purchase, Citing Strategic Value for US

American investor Stephen P. Lynch has expressed an interest in buying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if it is put up for auction as part of the bankruptcy proceedings in Switzerland, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“An American investor with a history of dealmaking in Russia has asked the U.S. government to allow him to bid on the sabotaged Nord Stream Pipeline 2 if it comes up for auction in a Swiss bankruptcy proceeding,” the report said.

According to sources cited by the newspaper, Lynch expressed determination to buy the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline and applied to the US Treasury in February for a license to negotiate its construction with entities under US sanctions, noting that many investors might avoid the auction due to the difficult geopolitical situation.

Lynch has advocated to US officials and lawmakers that owning the pipeline would give the United States a powerful tool in negotiating peace with Russia to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, while also supporting broader American strategic objectives.

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Germany’s AfD Urges UN to Investigate Nord Stream and Potential Government Role

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has called on the United Nations to prosecute an inquiry into the Nord Sream pipelines explosions and find out whether government officials were aware of this incident, party’s co-chair Tino Chrupalla said.

“We believe that the incident needs to be thoroughly investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable. In particular, we need to find out if members of the German government were aware of this incident before or after it occurred. We have called for the establishment of an inquiry commission in the European Parliament and are now calling for a UN investigation,” Chrupalla told Turkish newspaper Aydinlik.

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“Apologize and Keep Quiet”: Polish PM Tells Germans To Shut Up about Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took to Twitter to scold Germans who are outraged at the possibility that Ukraine, in collusion with European governments and the US, destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines, depriving Germany of Russian natural gas.

“To all the initiators and patrons of Nord Stream 1 and 2. The only thing you should do today about it is apologise and keep quiet,” Tusk tweeted on Saturday.

Tusk was responding to August Henning, former head of the German Federal Intelligence Service, who alleged in a recent interview with Germany’s Die Welt newspaper that Tusk’s predecessor, Andrzej Duda, knew about plans to sabotage the pipeline.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Ukraine was responsible for the operation, which took place in September 2022.

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Poland received German request to arrest Nord Stream suspect but he’s left country, prosecutors say

Poland received a European arrest warrant issued by Berlin in connection with the 2022 attack on Nord Stream pipelines, but the suspect, a Ukrainian man named as Volodymyr Z, has already left Poland, Polish prosecutors told Reuters.

He was able to leave as Germany had failed to include his name in a database of wanted persons, added the prosecutors.

The multi-billion dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of explosions in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

German investigators believe Volodymyr Z, a Ukrainian diver, was part of a team that planted the explosives, the SZ and Die Zeit newspapers reported alongside the ARD broadcaster, citing unnamed sources.

Polish National Public Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Anna Adamiak said German authorities sent a European warrant to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw in June for Volodymyr Z in connection with proceedings conducted against him in Germany.

“Ultimately, Volodymyr Z was not detained because at the beginning of July he left Polish territory, crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border,” she wrote in an emailed statement in reply to Reuters questions.

“Free crossing of the Polish-Ukrainian border by the above-mentioned person was possible because German authorities … did not include him in the database of wanted persons, which meant that the Polish Border Guard had no knowledge and no grounds to detain Volodymyr Z.”

Polish law does not allow for publication of the full name of suspects in criminal investigations.

Germany said its relationship with Ukraine was not strained by the Nord Stream inquiry.

“The procedures have no bearing on what the Chancellor (Olaf Scholz) has described as the support of Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s illegal war of aggression, as long as necessary,” the spokesperson added.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The German federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the media reports.

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