Ukrainian National Charged in Nord Stream Sabotage Admitted SBU Service During Attack

Ukrainian national Sergey Kuznetsov, who is charged with involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, said that he was serving in the Ukrainian armed forces and working for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) at the time of the attack, N-tv reported.

According to the broadcaster, Kuznetsov made the admission during a monitored telephone conversation with his wife while in custody in Italy, as stated in an indictment filed by Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office. The document, obtained by Stern magazine, contains several indications that Ukrainian state agencies were involved in the sabotage. However, investigators have only circumstantial evidence against Kuznetsov, the magazine said.

Recordings of Kuznetsov’s conversations while in Italian custody also show that he complained of feeling "abandoned" by his country and expressed a desire to speak with his "commander," a man named Roman. Presumably, he was referring to Roman Chervinsky, a controversial figure in Ukraine’s intelligence services. After Kuznetsov’s arrest, Chervinsky said in a written statement that Kuznetsov had been his subordinate at the time of the sabotage, the broadcaster added.

Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office earlier announced that it had charged Ukrainian national Sergey K. over his suspected involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. Prosecutors believe that he and his accomplices devised the operation on behalf of Ukrainian state agencies.

According to investigators, the group used the sailing yacht Andromeda, which they rented in Rostock. Divers then attached several explosive devices to the pipelines on the seabed. Kuznetsov is being held in detention in Hamburg, where the trial is expected to take place. He was arrested in Italy last summer and extradited to Germany.

On September 26, 2022, unprecedented damage was recorded on three lines of Nord Stream and the never-commissioned Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case over an act of international terrorism. In March 2023, Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Ukrainians had not been involved in the sabotage.