Ukrainian suspect arrested over Nord Stream attacks had links with Kyiv’s intelligence agency, Sky understands
By Simone Baglivo, Europe producer
The Ukrainian suspected of coordinating attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines had served in Ukraine’s Secret Service and in the Ukrainian Army’s special forces, Sky News understands.
The 49-year-old man named Serhii K was arrested yesterday in northern Italy following a European arrest warrant by German prosecutors.
It is not known whether he was still serving at the time of the pipeline attack in 2022 and Ukraine’s government has always denied any involvement in the explosions.
According to sources close to the case, the suspect had been found in a three-star bungalow hotel named La Pescaccia in San Clemente, in the province of Rimini.
When military officers from Italy’s Carabinieri investigative and operational units raided his bedroom, he didn’t try to resist the arrest.
His bungalow was then searched and the hotel’s employees have been questioned, but no further evidence or any weapons was found, the sources added.
He arrived on Italy’s Adriatic coast earlier this week and the purpose of his trip was a holiday.
He was found with his two children and his wife.
At least one of the four people within his family had a travel ticket issued in Poland.
Serhii crossed the Italian border with his car with a Ukrainian licence plate last Tuesday.
He was travelling with his passport and he used his real identity to check in to the hotel, triggering an emergency alert on a police server, we are told.
After the arrest, he was taken to the Rimini police station and today has been moved to a prison in Bologna, the regional capital, pending a ruling on his extradition by the appeal court.
Deputy Bologna Prosecutor Licia Scagliarini granted the German judicial authorities’ requests for the suspect’s surrender, but Sky News understand the man told the appeal court he doesn’t consent to being handed over to Germany.
This could delay the extradition. At the moment, it will be up to the appeal judge in Bologna to decide.
Charges
He also denied the charges and said he was in Ukraine during the sabotage. He added he is currently in Italy for family reasons.
The next hearing will be on 3 September, the court said. On that date, the appeal court will decide if he’s going to Germany or not. Until then, he will remain in jail.
While leaving the court today, he was seen making a typical Ukrainian nationalist ‘trident’ gesture to the media outside.
In Germany, he will face charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and the destruction of structures.
For more on the Nord Stream investigation, watch our Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins’s earlier explainer…
German prosecutors believe he was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.
Serhii and his accomplices had allegedly set off from Rostock on Germany’s north-eastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack.
The explosions severely damaged three pipelines transporting gas from Russia to Europe.
Escalation
It represented a significant escalation in the Ukraine conflict and worsening of the continent’s energy supply crisis.
According to a US intelligence report leaked in 2023, a pro-Ukraine group was behind the attack.
Yet no group has ever claimed responsibility.
Sky News understands Genoa’s Prosecutor Office in northern Italy has requested their colleagues in Bologna share the information related to Serhii.
Liguria anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating another alleged sabotage linked to the Russian shadow fleet oil tanker Seajewel, which sank off the port of Savona last February.
Yesterday, they asked an investigative police unit to understand if there is a link between that episode and the Nord Stream attacks.
