Germany’s Federal Prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for the suspect on Monday, 18 August, and late on the night of 20–21 August Italian carabinieri carried out the operation in the town of Misano Adriatico, in the Rimini province.
According to Der Spiegel, Serhiy K., arrested by the Italian authorities, was one of the coordinators of the Baltic Sea operation, but he did not actually dive in September 2022. The diving was carried out by Volodymyr Z., who has had an arrest warrant issued in Germany for a year.
Volodymyr Z. was in Poland, where he was supposed to be apprehended, but he likely received advance warning of the operation and disappeared.
Prosecutors accuse Serhiy K. of involvement in the explosions, sabotage, and destruction of property. Investigators say he and accomplices rented a yacht from a German company in Rostock, in northern Germany, using false identity documents, sailed into the Baltic Sea, and planted explosives on sections of the pipeline running from Russia to Germany. The blasts on 26 September 2022 rendered Nord Stream inoperable.
Following his extradition from Italy to Germany, Serhiy K. will face trial before the Federal Court of Justice, Polish Radio’s IAR news agency has reported.
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Source: IAR