NIGERIAN MILITARY JET CRASHES IN NIGER. (PHOTO).
A Ukrainian man suspected of carrying out explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022 has been taken into custody in Germany. A judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe issued an arrest warrant on Friday for 49-year-old Serhii Kuznietsov, ordering him held while prosecutors investigate.
The undersea blasts on September 26, 2022, severely damaged pipelines intended to transport Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, heightening tensions over the war in Ukraine and accelerating Europe’s move away from Russian energy. German prosecutors say Kuznietsov was part of a group that planted explosives on the pipelines and is believed to have coordinated the operation. He faces charges including causing explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage, and destruction of structures.
Authorities said Kuznietsov and accomplices used a yacht hired from a German company with forged IDs, departing from the port of Rostock. Kuznietsov has denied involvement, claiming he was in Ukraine serving as an army captain at the time of the blasts.
Kuznietsov arrived in Germany on Thursday after Italy’s top court approved his extradition on November 19. He had been detained in Italy at a campground near Rimini on August 21 while vacationing with his family. In contrast, a Polish court recently blocked the extradition of another Ukrainian suspect in the same pipeline attack, ruling that the explosions could be considered a military action in a “just war,” an argument not accepted by the Italian court in Kuznietsov’s case.
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