It is not in Poland's interest to extradite the Ukrainian citizen wanted by Germany for alleged involvement in the explosion and damage to the "Nord Stream" gas pipelines, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
The Polish Prime Minister stressed that ultimately the court must decide whether Volodymyr Z., who was detained near Warsaw in late September, should be extradited to Germany. But he reiterated Poland's long-standing stance against the pipelines, which Warsaw says are key to making Europe overly dependent on Russian energy.
"The problem of Europe, the problem of Ukraine, the problem of Lithuania and Poland is not that "Nord Stream 2" was blown up, but that it was built," Tusk told a news conference.
"It is certainly not in Poland's interest to hand over this citizen to a foreign country," he added.
So far, German authorities have not commented on Tusk's remarks.
A Polish court ruled yesterday that Volodymyr Z. must remain in custody for another 40 days, pending a decision on whether to extradite him to Germany on the basis of a European arrest warrant.