A court in Croatia has kept in custody Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Zhuravlev, whom Germany suspects of involvement in blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022. The man was detained in Pula on a European arrest warrant, and the question of his transfer to Germany is now being decided.
According to Croatian media, the 46-year-old Ukrainian was brought to the prosecutor's office in Pula, which requested that he be placed in extradition custody. The court granted the request. The defense intends to appeal the decision.
He was detained while working on a film about the Nord Stream
An unusual detail of the story is the place and circumstances of the detention. Zhuravlev was in Croatia in connection with the filming of the political thriller Snake Island, the plot of which is inspired precisely by the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
According to The Guardian, the Ukrainian worked as a consultant for the film's creators. The film is directed by Doug Liman, and the cast includes Sean Penn and Adrien Brody. Filming took place in Croatia, where events related to the underwater operation in the Baltic Sea were recreated.
What Germany suspects the Ukrainian of
The German Federal Prosecutor's Office refers to the detainee as Volodymyr Z. The investigation considers him a trained diver who was part of a group that allegedly planted explosives on the Nord Stream pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm.
According to German investigators, the suspect directly participated in the dives necessary for planting the explosives. For the operation, the group allegedly used a yacht rented in Germany through intermediaries using forged documents. The explosions occurred on September 26, 2022, and severely damaged three of the four strings of the two gas pipelines.
In Germany, Zhuravlev is charged with jointly carrying out explosions, sabotage, and damaging structures. After the extradition procedure is completed, he is to be brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Germany.
Another Ukrainian, Serhiy K., is part of the same investigation. He was detained in Italy in 2025 and then extradited to Germany. In June 2026, German prosecutors transferred the case against him to the Hamburg court.
Zhuravlev himself denies guilt. Ukraine has also denied state involvement in blowing up the gas pipelines. Thus, the conclusions of the German investigation remain the prosecution's version for now, and the detainee's guilt must be established by the court.
Sources: Index.hr, HRT, The Guardian
