Poland Confirms Received Arrest Warrant For Ukrainian Nord Stream Suspect

Warsaw, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Aug, 2024) Poland confirmed on Wednesday that it had received a German arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man who is reportedly a suspect over the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022.

German media said earlier that prosecutors had issued a warrant for a Ukrainian diver, named as Volodymyr Z., that they believe helped plant explosive devices on the pipeline.

The Polish prosecutor's office told AFP it had received the warrant for the man in June "in connection with proceedings against him in Germany".

"Ultimately, Volodymyr Z. was not detained, as he left the territory of Poland at the beginning of July this year, crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border," the prosecutor's office said in an email.

Four large gas leaks were discovered on Nord Stream's two pipelines off the Danish island of Bornholm at the end of September 2022.

The pipelines had been at the centre of geopolitical tensions as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation to Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Polish prosecutors said the suspect left Poland because the German justice, while issuing the warrant, did not "include him in the database of wanted persons".

"The Polish Border Guard had no knowledge and no grounds for detaining Volodymyr Z.," the prosecutor's office told AFP.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters.