Warrant for Arrest of Ukranian Diver
The bombings of North Stream 1 and North Stream 2 are still under investigation.
More than two years ago, the almost finished gas pipeline North Stream 2 from Russia to Germany was blown up, deep in the Baltic Sea close to the Danish island of Bornholm. The Federal German Public Prosecutor General has now issued an arrest warrant for a suspect, named by the Swedish tabloid Expressen as Ukrainian diving instructor Volodymyr Zhuravlov, 44. A Ukrainian diver has been mentioned before as a suspect in the case, mainly because he was involved with hiring a the sailing boat ‘Andromeda’ in Poland that was sighted in a harbor on a small island just inside Bornholm territory at a time very close to the explosions. Now, the German court in .. has progressed their investigation so far that they have enough reason to demand his arrest. When the Polish police reached his address, he was already gone and they say he left for Ukraine. The result is an international request for arrest and extradition.
The bombings of North Stream 1 and North Stream 2
Following the three gas leaks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, prohibition zones have been established around the leaks for the sake of the safety of ship and air traffic.
Nord Stream 1 has two leaks northeast of Bornholm, Nord Stream 2 has one leak south of Dueodde. The leaks were discovered by the Danish Defence F-16 interceptor response unit.
The defense is supporting in connection with the authorities' efforts regarding the leaks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. The frigate Absalon and the pollution control vessel ship Gunnar Thorson are on their way to carry out water monitoring at the exclusion zones, and the Danish Defence are also supporting with a helicopter capacity. In addition, the patrol ship Rota was in the area last night. Danish Defence original report from 2022
The explosions turned out to have damaged the three pipelines at a depth of around 80 meters, which is far too deep for ordinary scuba divers. Logically, it would have required professional deep water divers to place explosive devices. As the bombs must have been heavy for a diver to maneuver in position, many would also assume that a special ship with deep sea engineering equipment would also be required for this task. Several Russian (and Danish) vessels were in the vicinity of the sites in the days before the explosions, but very little has been made public of the findings. Russia officially requested access to the sites in order to conduct their own investigations, but that was firmly denied by the Danish authorities.
You may have noticed the numbers, there were three explosions on the two gas lines. It is confusing, because each of the ‘lines’ of North Stream consist of two separate pipes, each with an internal diameter of 1.15 meter, just about 3.8 feet, made of steel with a concrete lining. So four tubes in total, running in close pairs but following slightly different paths. One line was completely blown up at the explosion site, on the other site, only one of the two tubes was severed. One of the tubes were still functional and was not turned off before the Russians did that, at a later time when they realized they would not get paid for the deliveries because of sanctions.
The gas leak at Nord Stream 2 seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm. Photo: Danish Defence
In an international collaboration, the German newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit and the government broadcaster ARD together with Expressen have dug deep into the case. Sweden had a formal police investigation at the start but soon abandoned it, saying it has no jurisdiction over the area. But the German police have continued, slowly one could say, to investigate and is now ready to indict two other besides this certain Zhuravlov.
Ukraine repeat their earlier rejection of involvement in Nord Stream sabotage
The Ukrainian government has denied allegations of involvement in the attacks on the Nord Stream Baltic Sea pipeline. It is more likely that Russia was responsible for the act of sabotage in September 2022, said President Volodymyr Zelensky's adviser Mykhailo Podoliak. "Such an act can only be carried out with great technical and financial resources," said Podoliak. "And who had all of that at the time of the attack? Only Russia." Die Zeit newspaper, 15 August 2024
There have so far been no reactions from other countries.
A good estimate is that this case will lay still until the war in Ukraine has ended. Maybe it will never be fully resolved, because of the heavy political and economic interests involved. But for sure, there will be more revelations of interesting bits of information coming up.
Thank you for this update, US media doesn't cover this.