A Ukrainian citizen accused of complicity in organizing the attacks on the “Nord Stream“ gas pipelines in 2022 appeared before a German court today on charges that include war crimes. His defense has requested a dismissal of the case, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The trial began at the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg amid heightened international media interest. This is the first trial against one of the alleged participants in the attacks that took place in the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
The defendant, 50-year-old Sergiy Kuznetsov, is accused of causing an explosion with explosives, destroying infrastructure and disrupting public services. Because he was an officer in the Ukrainian army at the time and, according to prosecutors, acted with the knowledge of Ukrainian authorities, he is also charged with war crimes.
His lawyers have rejected the war crimes charge and said there is no evidence to support the claim that Kuznetsov played a leading role in the attack. The defense also challenged the legality of his extradition from Italy, arguing that the Italian courts had ruled without being aware of the war crime charge.
According to the indictment, Kuznetsov was among the servicemen who developed a plan on behalf of the Ukrainian authorities to destroy the gas pipelines intended to deliver Russian natural gas to Germany. The alleged goal was to strike at Russia's military potential shortly after the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The prosecution claims that the Ukrainian led a team of several professional divers, a captain and an explosives specialist. According to the indictment, the group transported large quantities of military plastic explosives on a sailing yacht rented in the German city of Rostock to the area near the Danish island of Bornholm.
There, the alleged perpetrators placed time-controlled explosive devices on the gas pipelines on the seabed. The explosions occurred on September 26, 2022, and caused serious damage to the “Nord Stream 1“ and “Nord Stream 2“. Four leaks were later found in three of the four pipes.
Before the attack, “Nord Stream 1“ was supplying Russian natural gas to Germany, while “Nord Stream 2“ had not yet been put into operation. In the months since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Moscow had already repeatedly reduced or suspended supplies through the first gas pipeline, DPA notes.
Kuznetsov was arrested at the end of August last year while vacationing with his family on the Italian Adriatic coast. Three months later, he was extradited to Germany and placed in pretrial detention.
Before the trial began, about 20 Ukrainians protested outside the courthouse, calling for the defendant not to be convicted of war crimes. “Ukraine has the right to defend itself in order to survive,” a spokesman for the protesters said.