Croatian police arrest suspect in 2022 Nord Stream pipeline blasts

A suspect in the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions in the Baltic Sea was arrested Wednesday morning in Croatia.

The man, a Ukrainian national identified by German prosecutors as Vladimir Z., was arrested near Pula by Croatian police on a European arrest warrant. Croatian authorities have not confirmed his identity.

He is the second suspect to be arrested in connection with the blasts. The first, a former Ukrainian army officer, was arrested in Italy in 2025 and charged by German authorities in July.

The suspect arrested near Pula is a trained scuba diver.

The explosions in September 2022 damaged the Nord Stream pipelines, a major route for Russian natural gas exports to northern Europe. The blasts occurred months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

German prosecutors allege that the attack was intended to stop gas deliveries through Nord Stream and prevent Russia from using gas revenues to help fund its war effort against Ukraine.

Under international law, the pipelines are considered civilian infrastructure. Germany is handling the case because the pipelines terminate on German territory and the damage affected the country's energy and national security.

According to the German investigation, the blasts were carried out by a Ukrainian team of professional divers — four men and one woman. The Washington Post has reported that Valery Zaluzhnyi, who was Ukraine's military chief at the time, was personally involved in the operation, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was reportedly not informed about it.

Vladimir Z. was arrested in Poland last year, but authorities there released him because they said Germany did not give them enough information at the time.