Nord Stream, trial begins in Germany for former Ukrainian official

The trial of a former Ukrainian official suspected of having sabotaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines a few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine has officially opened in Hamburg. The accused, the only one at the moment, is Serghei Kuznietsov, former commander of the Kiev special forces. According to the German prosecutor's office, the 50-year-old soldier led a commando team that on September 26, 2022 placed explosive charges at a depth of 70-80 meters that damaged three pipelines of the structure near the Danish island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea. Kuznietsov was arrested in Italy in 2025 and extradited to Germany: the charges also include charges related to the commission of a war crime, the attack on civilian infrastructure and the provocation of an explosion.

The arrest in Italy, then the extradition to Germany

It was with a banner that reads "No to conviction for war crimes" that a small delegation of Ukrainian citizens gathered today in Hamburg, in front of the court where the trial of the Ukrainian officer accused of having sabotaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline together with other accomplices began in September four years ago. Kuznietsov, as mentioned, is accused of war crimes by the German Federal Prosecutor's Office: he is in fact accused of having resorted to prohibited methods in the conduct of the war, through the attack on civilian targets. The accused was arrested in Italy at the end of August 2025, while he was on holiday on the Adriatic with his wife and four children. Three months later, on November 27, he was handed over to the German authorities. He has since been placed under pre-trial detention. The formulation of the accusation, with the indictment, dates back to last July.

Request for archiving

Meanwhile, it has emerged that the defense of the former Ukrainian officer has requested the dismissal of the proceedings. This was reported by Dpa, according to which the lawyers also contested the Italian extradition procedure. Kuznietsov's defenders then rejected the accusation that the fifty-year-old was guilty of a war crime, also contesting the reconstruction of facts according to which their client played a leading role in the sensational attack on the gas pipelines. Furthermore, according to the defense, the extradition of the accused from Italy would have taken place without legal basis, since the Italian justice system would have decided on the matter without knowing the accusation of war crime.