A Croatian court has ordered the detention of a Ukrainian national wanted by Germany in connection with the 2022 undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines, his lawyer confirmed Thursday.
The man was arrested Wednesday in the northern Croatian town of Pula based on a European arrest warrant. Prosecutors on Thursday requested his detention as extradition proceedings begin, according to state broadcaster HRT.
The suspect's lawyer, Matija Milos, stated that an appeal against the detention order would be filed. The duration of the extradition process in Croatia remains unclear.
German prosecutors allege the suspect is a "trained scuba diver" who was part of a group that "planted explosives" on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea near Denmark's Bornholm island. The explosions occurred on September 26, 2022, damaging the pipelines designed to transport Russian natural gas to Germany.
The incidents heightened tensions during the Russia-Ukraine war, as European nations sought to reduce their reliance on Russian energy sources following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
German federal prosecutors have identified the suspect as Vladimir Z. A spokesperson for the prosecutors' office confirmed to The Associated Press that this is the same individual arrested in Poland last year, who was subsequently released after a Polish court refused his extradition to Germany. Polish authorities had identified him as Volodymyr Zhuravlov.
Last month, German federal prosecutors also filed charges against a former Ukrainian army officer, identified as Serhii K., in connection with the same explosions. He was detained in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November.
Investigators believe the suspects utilized a yacht rented from a German company using falsified identification and intermediaries. The yacht departed from the German port of Rostock.
The explosions ruptured Nord Stream 1, Russia's primary gas supply route to Germany, which had its supplies cut off by Moscow in August 2022. Nord Stream 2, which was never put into operation due to Germany suspending its certification process shortly before Russia's invasion, was also damaged.