German court continues trial of former Ukrainian officer for Nord Stream sabotage

A German court in Hamburg has rejected a defense motion to dismiss the trial of Serhii Kuznietsov, a former Ukrainian army officer accused of involvement in the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage.

Kuznietsov faces charges including causing an explosion, damaging property, disrupting public service, and being an accomplice to war crimes. Prosecutors allege he was a ringleader in an operation that used explosives to rupture the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.

Defense lawyers argued the trial should be halted because Kuznietsov, as an active-duty soldier at the time, was bound by Ukrainian national security secrecy laws that prevented him from testifying. The court dismissed this argument, stating that the defendant’s defense is not limited under German law and that the freedom to testify in Germany is not restricted by the service conditions of a foreign nation.

The sabotage remains one of Europe’s most significant acts of infrastructure destruction since World War II. While investigators have focused on a small team of divers operating from a sailing yacht, the Ukrainian government has repeatedly denied any state involvement in the attack.