Germany Nord Stream: Court allows extradition of Ukrainians
In the legal back and forth surrounding the extradition of the alleged mastermind of the attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines to Germany, Italy has now given the green light again.
27.10.2025, 11:44
27.10.2025, 16:00
SDA
A court in Bologna granted the transfer of the 49-year-old Ukrainian to the German authorities. However, this is not the last word: Serhij K.'s lawyer has announced that he will take the case back to Italy's highest court. This court had already stopped the extradition once before.
K. is considered the alleged mastermind of the attacks on the gas pipelines from Russia in the Baltic Sea three years ago. Germany's federal prosecutor's office accuses the Ukrainian of jointly causing an explosive detonation at the former German-Russian prestige project as well as anti-constitutional sabotage. He is therefore to be tried in Germany. He is currently in custody in a high-security prison in Italy.
Poland does not want to extradite other suspects
The attacks in September 2022 - six months after Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine - made headlines around the world. So far, no one has been held responsible. Apart from K., only one other suspect has been arrested, also a Ukrainian. However, Poland does not want to extradite the man to Germany. It is suspected that the attacks were the work of a team of seven suspects in total.
In the case of K., the court of appeal in the northern Italian city of Bologna had already given the green light for extradition in September. However, his lawyer Nicola Canestrini took the case to the Court of Cassation in Rome. This stopped the extradition in mid-October due to procedural deficiencies on the Italian side. The case therefore went back to Bologna - to the same court, but with a new composition.
Lawyer criticizes procedural violations
The court has now confirmed the decision from the first instance. Lawyer Canestrini assumes that the next hearing in Rome will take place within a month. K. is to remain in Italy until then. The defense lawyer criticized "serious procedural violations". This would violate the "legality and compliance with the principles of a fair trial".
K. was arrested in the summer on the basis of a European arrest warrant on the Italian Adriatic coast, where he was on vacation with his wife and children. Apparently, he did not expect that his vacation in Italy could be his undoing. He denies all the allegations.
Lawyer Canestrini declared that he would not give up "until a court has fully examined the international law and human rights issues in the case". If the trial were to take place in Germany, it would probably be held in Hamburg.
Explosions on pipelines caused a worldwide sensation
The attacks near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea damaged the two Nord Stream pipelines to such an extent that gas could no longer have been transported through them. However, at the time of the explosions, no Russian natural gas was flowing through either of the pipelines to Germany: Russia had stopped deliveries through Nord Stream 1 a few weeks earlier. Nord Stream 2 had not been put into operation due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
German investigators are convinced that K. led a team of seven suspects, including four divers. For the attacks, they are said to have rented a sailing yacht called "Andromeda" in Germany, which they then took out into the Baltic Sea to blow up the pipelines.
Facts already established in a similar case in Poland
The other suspect from Ukraine had been caught in Poland and had been in custody there until recently. The German authorities also submitted an extradition request in this case. However, a Polish court ruled just over a week ago that 46-year-old Volodymyr Z. would not be extradited. He was also released from prison. The public prosecutor's office has not appealed against this decision.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after the decision that the court had "rightly" rejected the extradition. "The case is closed," he wrote on X.
Poland's governments in recent years have always been against the construction of the pipelines. Warsaw warned early on that the Nord Stream gas pipelines could be misused by Russia for blackmail.
