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Arrest in Croatia
German prosecutors said a Ukrainian man, identified as Vladimir Z., was arrested in Pula, Croatia, by local police carrying out a European warrant in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline blasts.
“Vladimir Z. is a trained scuba diver who was part of a group of individuals who planted explosives”
CBC reported that prosecutors said Vladimir Z. was a trained scuba diver who was part of a group that planted explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.
The BBC said the suspect is alleged by German authorities to have been one of the scuba divers who planted explosives on the pipelines in September 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
German federal prosecutors said they were pursuing the suspect's extradition from Croatia, and the BBC said the arrest has strained relations between Kyiv and Berlin, one of the key European backers for Ukraine's war effort.
Film set twist
The Guardian reported that German media said Volodymyr Zhuravlev had been acting as a consultant on Doug Liman’s movie, Snake Island, which reconstructs the explosions.
The Guardian said the film’s subject was the 2022 Nord Stream explosions, in which a team of Ukrainian divers allegedly blew up a pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to Germany.
In Zagreb, the Guardian described locals noticing sandbags and barricades outside an art deco building, with a film crew and extras sporting Ukrainian military uniforms, before Sean Penn and Adrien Brody were spotted on the set.
The Guardian said Zhuravlev was detained in the Croatian city of Pula, and it described the arrest as a “meta-twist” tied to the movie being shot in Pula, an ancient Roman port on the Adriatic coast.
Extradition fight
The Guardian said Zhuravlev’s luck ran out on Wednesday when he was detained in Pula, and it reported that his lawyers would seek to stop him from being sent to Germany, where he is likely to face a lengthy prison sentence if convicted.
“his lawyers will now seek to stop their client from being sent to Germany”
The Guardian quoted Polish defence lawyer Tymoteusz Paprocki saying the case will once again be “precedent-setting” because a Croatian court will effectively hear a matter already decided in Poland, another EU member state.
CBC reported that Poland blocked the extradition of a man with the same name and initial last year, and it said a Polish lawyer told the Associated Press that Volodymyr knew the ruling applies only on the territory of Poland.
The BBC said prosecutors alleged the suspect participated in the necessary dives for the sabotage and that after Zhuravlyov's planned extradition from Croatia, officials said he will be brought before an investigating judge to face charges of causing explosions and sabotage.