On September 26, 2022, explosions occurred along two Nord Stream gas pipelines. The explosions damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and Nord Stream 2, too, which was yet to enter service. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, costing about $11bn and owned by Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom, ran under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, doubling the capacity of the existing Nord Stream 1 route. The explosions occurred in international waters but within the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden. No state has ever claimed responsibility for the blasts. Denmark and Sweden closed their investigations into the explosions in 2024, but Germany is still investigating the case.
Despite Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly deny their country was behind the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines four years ago, investigations performed by a number of European countries’ authorities show that the bombings and subsequent underwater gas leaks on the pipelines was a result of a deliberate operation to destroy, or, at least, damage this important energy route between Russia and Germany. The investigations have revealed the involvement of Ukraine in the sabotage.
19 August, Croatian authorities arrested Volodymyr Zhuravlev, a Ukrainian citizen, professional scuba diver and diving instructor who allegedly participated in the operation, while he he had been working as a consultant on the set of an upcoming Hollywood movie called ’Snake Island’, a dramatic reconstruction of the bombings. ’Snake Island’ is directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr and Mrs Smith, etc.). Hollywood stars Sean Penn and Adrien Brody will be seen in Liman’s upcoming fictional political thriller about the gas pipelines sabotage.
It should be noted that Zhuravlev had already evaded arrest in Poland in 2024, fleeing back to Ukraine after a Polish court decision that Nord Stream destruction could be viewed as a justified act by Ukraine in a defensive war. However, Zhuravlev’s arrest in Croatia signals Berlin’s determination to bring all the perpatrators in front of German courts. Another suspect, Serhii Kuznetsov, also a Ukrainian citizen was arrested in Italy last year and extradited to Germany.
Ukraine is willing to help its partners investigate the Nord Stream case and it was behind neither the planning nor the execution of the operation, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said to journalists when he was asked to comment on new developments in the Nord Stream case. He also stressed that it is important for Ukraine not to lose the partnership and trust of European countries.
In light of the established facts, the question no more concerns whether, on the part of Kyiv, it was ethical to let Zhuravlev travel to Croatia and take part in the preparations of the film. Instead, the real questions that should be raised with regard to this case are the following:
Does Zelenskyy really tell the truth when, despite evidence provided by the investigative bodies in several EU countries, insist on Ukraine’s innocence in the pipeline sabotage?
Given that in this situation – with war-torn Ukraine at the doorstep of the EU – , the Ukrainian president is obviously not interested in telling the truth about bombing a gas pipeline at Europe’s coasts, why the EU still let him lie, even if it has to turn a blind eye not only to the facts but also Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s words saying after the explosions that ’any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and will lead to the strongest possible response.’
