The Wall Street Journal: Nord Stream Investigation Divides Europe Over Ukraine

For three years, a team of elite detectives gathered every weekday morning around a whiteboard at the headquarters of the German federal police in Potsdam, near Berlin. Now their investigation into who was behind the largest act of sabotage in modern history - the bombing of the "Nord Stream" gas pipelines - threatens to divide support for Ukraine, the country they hold responsible, The Wall Street Journal writes, quoted by Focus.

Poland has already refused to extradite one of the suspects to stand trial in Germany. Instead, he is seen as a hero for destroying a vital source of revenue for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has long questioned Germany’s dependence on Russian energy, has mocked the investigation. The problem is not that the pipeline was blown up, he said. “The problem is that it was built.”

Police, prosecutors and other agencies in Germany, familiar with the details of the case, have prepared a case against Ukraine, the article said.

By tracking boat rental companies, telephone numbers and license plates, the Potsdam group set a precedent for German authorities to issue arrest warrants for three Ukrainian special forces soldiers and four veteran divers. According to sources, the saboteurs were counting on the explosion of the gas pipelines to reduce Russia's oil revenues and undermine its economic ties with Germany.

It is expected that by December 2025, a court in Italy will make a decision on the extradition of Ukrainian citizen Sergey Kuznetsov, who is considered the leader of the sabotage group that carried out the explosion. German police have already prepared a special plane to take him away, the article states. At the same time, the German side is demanding the extradition of another suspect, also a Ukrainian citizen, who is being held in Poland.