Germany puts Ukrainian on trial accused of blowing up Nord Stream pipelines
Four years after the attacks, Serhii K will appear in court accused of a plot to destroy Russia's gas pipelines to Germany.
Key points
- Serhii K, a Ukrainian man, goes on trial in Hamburg on Wednesday over the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline blasts.
- German prosecutors accuse him of plotting with Ukrainian military personnel to destroy the pipelines.
- He denies the charges, as does a second suspect fighting extradition from Croatia.
A Ukrainian man identified by German prosecutors as Serhii K goes on trial in Hamburg on Wednesday, accused of blowing up Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines to Germany. The blasts on 26 September 2022 destroyed three of the four pipelines in the Baltic Sea off the island of Bornholm.
Prosecutors allege he plotted with other Ukrainian military personnel to destroy the pipelines and stop Russia financing its war with gas revenue. He was extradited to Germany last year and becomes the first suspect to face trial over the attacks. He denies the charges, as does a second suspect who is fighting extradition from Croatia.
How the investigation unfolded
After the blasts, Western suspicion looked towards Moscow without directly apportioning blame. Russia had already shut off gas to Germany in Nord Stream 1 weeks earlier, and Nord Stream 2 had never been turned on. Vladimir Putin accused the US and its UK allies, blaming "the Anglo-Saxons", which they denied.
After Denmark and Sweden closed their inquiries, German prosecutors focused on a group of deep-sea divers who had rented a yacht called the Andromeda in Rostock. They later said "traces of subsea explosives were found in the samples taken from the boat". In January 2025, the German federal court of justice ruled the case fell within German jurisdiction.
They tried to make not a big story out of it, not to give it too much attention, to give it to the institutions, to the judiciary that they will deal with it. This is not a political case. So they tried to depoliticise it.
— Stefan Meister, German Council on Foreign Relations
Differing views in Kyiv and Berlin
Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko, who chairs the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said the blasts took place during a war with Russia and that "Nord Stream 2 was nothing but a tool used by Russia in order to get prepared for the war". He told the BBC there was no confirmation of the German account: "It's one of the versions."
Stefan Meister, of the German Council on Foreign Relations, said Berlin had sought to remove politics from the case. "They tried to make not a big story out of it, not to give it too much attention, to give it to the institutions, to the judiciary that they will deal with it. This is not a political case. So they tried to depoliticise it," he explained.
