German Investigators: All Involved in Nordstream Sabotage Identified

German investigators have successfully identified the entire Ukrainian sabotage group believed to be behind the 2022 explosion of the Nordstream gas pipeline. A total of seven Ukrainian citizens have been identified, and the suspects are now wanted, according to reports from German outlets Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and ARD. The investigation has also determined that the group received support from Ukrainian authorities in carrying out the sabotage.

Last week, 49-year-old Ukrainian citizen Serhei Kuznetsov was arrested while checking into accommodation with his family in Rimini, Italy. According to German authorities, he planned and led the Ukrainian operation that disabled Nordstream 1 and 2.

As he was led away in handcuffs outside the Bologna court, he made the sign of the Ukrainian state emblem, the trident, with his fingers.

However, the arrest of Serhei Kuznetsov is just part of a larger breakthrough in the German investigation. According to an investigation by German media outlets Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and ARD, with which Expressen collaborates, investigators have now mapped out the entire group that carried out the attack.

According to the information, the group consists of seven Ukrainian citizens, one of whom has died at the front in eastern Ukraine. The remaining five, who are at large, are now wanted after Germany issued arrest warrants.

According to the German federal prosecutor's office, the group consisted of a skipper, a coordinator, an explosives expert, and four divers. The investigation has shown that they traveled from the port outside Rostock, Germany, to the pipelines aboard the sailboat Andromeda.

German investigators now also believe they can show that the group had support from Ukrainian authorities. When they traveled via Poland to Germany, the group had genuine Ukrainian passports but with false identities.

An initial alert was issued last year, but the suspected diver Volodymyr Zhuravlov managed to flee before being captured. He was traced by German investigators after the car he was traveling in was caught by a speed camera not far from the port where the designated sailboat "Andromeda" was located just before the sabotage. According to reports, he later fled from Poland to Ukraine in the Ukrainian defense attaché's car.

As previously reported by Expressen, the sailboat Andromeda was linked to the explosion with traces of the explosive HMX, also known as octogen.

This is now confirmed by the German arrest warrant for Serhei Kuznetsov, which also describes the motive. According to the document, the group blew up Nordstream to "damage gas deliveries from the Russian Federation to the Federal Republic of Germany."

According to the document, which Expressen has seen in collaboration with German media, the explosive charges weighed between 14 and 27 kilograms and consisted of a mixture of Hexogen (RDX) and Octogen (HMX).

One of the now-wanted Ukrainian citizens received military training in Germany as recently as last year, according to the investigation by Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and ARD.

Swedish prosecutors have also investigated the sabotage against Nordstream, but the investigation was closed as the crime lacked a connection to Sweden, according to the prosecutor.

Expressen's investigation in collaboration with German media has, however, previously shown that Andromeda was in a Swedish port in Blekinge in connection with the sabotage.