German prosecutors charge Ukrainian Serguei Kuznetsov with Nord Stream sabotage

German federal prosecutors have formally charged Ukrainian citizen Serguei Kuznetsov with a war‑crime for his alleged role in the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. The indictment states the explosions damaged three of the four pipelines and were carried out under instructions from Ukrainian state bodies.

Kuznetsov, a former member of Ukraine’s armed forces who reportedly worked for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), was detained in Italy where intercepted phone calls with his wife were used as evidence. He denies the charges and will be tried in Germany. The case is the first time German authorities have directly linked the sabotage to Ukrainian state agencies, raising diplomatic tension between Kyiv and its Western allies.