Ukrainian diver suspected of Nord Stream attack arrested in Croatia

A Ukrainian national and trained diver was arrested on Wednesday morning in Croatia as a second suspect in the Nord Stream pipeline attacks of September 2022, the German public prosecutor's office said, reported dpa.

The man, identified as Vladimir Z in compliance with Germany's privacy laws, was arrested in the city of Pula. He was detained by local police in coordination with the General Police Directorate in Zagreb, German prosecutors said.

The man is "strongly suspected" of jointly causing an explosive to detonate as well as sabotage and destruction of structures, they said.

The man had previously been detained in Poland in September 2025. The Polish judiciary rejected a German extradition request at the time and released the suspect.

The man is alleged to have participated as a trained diver in the diving operations in the Baltic Sea during which the explosive devices were placed on the gas pipelines, according to the public prosecutor's office.

He and his accomplices are said to have used a sailing yacht that set out from Rostock. The yacht is alleged to have been hired from a German company via intermediaries using forged identity documents.

The explosions near the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm in September 2022 severely damaged both Nord Stream pipelines, bringing gas flows to a complete halt. Before the attack, Nord Stream 1 transported Russian natural gas to Germany, while Nord Stream 2 had not yet entered service.

Nobody has been held accountable for the attacks to date. In August last year, the alleged mastermind of the operation, Serhy K, was apprehended on Italy's Adriatic coast while on holiday with his family.

The Public Prosecutor's Office filed charges against him at the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg in July.

(By Jacqueline Melcher and Anika von Greve-Dierfeld)