Germany news: Nord Stream sabotage suspect's trial opens

Ukrainian former military officer Serhii K. goes on trial in Germany over Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage.

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A Ukrainian former military officer, Serhii K., is standing trial in Germany, accused of leading a group of Ukrainian agents in the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022. The trial opened on Wednesday at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court and is expected to run into February next year.

Prosecutors accuse Serhii K. of working with other members of the military to plan the operation on behalf of unidentified Ukrainian state entities. They allege he travelled to Germany through Poland on a forged Ukrainian passport about three weeks before the attack.

The group used a sailboat hired in the northern city of Rostock to reach an area near the Danish island of Bornholm, where they attached military-grade explosives with timers to the pipelines on the seabed. German prosecutors say attacking civilian targets and destroying infrastructure in this way would amount to a war crime.

On September 26, 2022, Swedish seismologists detected several blasts, some 17 hours apart. Three of the four concrete-coated steel pipelines ruptured, sending huge plumes of methane into the atmosphere. Nord Stream 1 had supplied about half of Germany's natural gas imports.

The sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines exposed the dependence of Europe, and particularly Germany, on Russian gas. It also highlighted the murkiness of underground operations during wartime. Security observers initially blamed Moscow for the attack, but Russia has denied involvement, blaming the US instead.

The trial is expected to test Germany's political stance on Ukraine. Serhii K. denies any involvement in the sabotage and is the only person on trial. A further suspect, Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, an air conditioner installer and hobby diver, was arrested on a European warrant in northern Croatia in August and is fighting his extradition to Germany.