The World Today
BERLIN, 21 (DPA/EP)
The German Prosecutor's Office announced this Thursday the arrest in Italy of a Ukrainian citizen suspected of coordinating the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in September 2022, opening a new chapter in a Russian invasion that had barely begun.
"The accused was presumably one of the coordinators of the operation," said the German Prosecutor's Office, which accuses him of detonating the explosive charge that damaged the infrastructure and of sabotage, among other charges.
This Ukrainian man was arrested by police in recent hours in Rimini, eastern Italy, and his extradition to Germany is planned, the country where these gas pipelines from Russia flow through the Baltic Sea.
On September 26, 2022, three of the four lines of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines experienced an explosion while passing through the Baltic Sea, near the Danish island of Bornholm and off the coast of Sweden.
Nord Stream 1 had previously been used to supply Russian gas to Germany, while Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation following the full invasion of Ukraine.
