German authorities have reportedly identified all members of the team allegedly responsible for the September 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines. According to reports in “Die Zeit”, the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and ARD, investigators have now named seven suspects.
Six of the suspects are Ukrainian nationals and arrest warrants have been issued for them. The seventh suspect is believed to have died in eastern Ukraine in December 2024 while fighting with the Russian army.
The group allegedly detonated several sections of the Nord Stream pipeline in September 2022. The reports detail a team composed of a skipper, a coordinator, a bomb expert and four divers who travelled from Rostock on the sailing yacht “Andromeda” to the locations in the Baltic Sea. One of the divers is believed to have joined the group later and is suspected of previously planning an attack on another Russian gas pipeline that ultimately failed. One alleged member of the commando, also reportedly a Ukrainian soldier, received military training at the Bundeswehr facility in Wildflecken last year.
Investigations further support the suspicion that the group may have conducted the operation with the assistance of Ukrainian authorities. The suspects reportedly travelled to Germany through Poland using original Ukrainian passports under false names. One of the suspects was transported from Poland back to Ukraine in a vehicle belonging to the Ukrainian military attaché in the summer of last year, allegedly to evade arrest. Last week, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office secured the arrest of the alleged coordinator of the sabotage operation in Italy, with plans for extradition to Germany.
