A Warsaw court has refused to extradite a Ukrainian suspect wanted by Berlin over the 2022 pipeline blasts<\/p>\n
A Polish court has refused to extradite a Ukrainian suspect in the Nord Stream sabotage case to Germany, ordering his immediate release and ruling that the alleged actions can be seen as \u201crational and just\u201d in the context of war.
\nThe two Nord Stream pipelines, built to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were damaged in a sabotage attack in September 2022. German prosecutors have attributed the explosions to a small group of Ukrainian nationals, including a diving instructor, Vladimir Zhuravlyov, who was detained by the Polish authorities last month under a European arrest warrant. Berlin\u2019s previous request for his arrest was reportedly obstructed by the Polish government in 2024.
\nOn Friday, Polish media reported the Warsaw District Court found Germany\u2019s extradition request \u201cunfounded,\u201d citing a lack of evidence linking Zhuravlyov to the sabotage.
\n\u201cBlowing up critical infrastructure during a war \u2013 during a just, defensive war \u2013 is not sabotage but denotes a military action,\u201d Judge Dariusz Lubowski said. \u201cThese actions were not illegal \u2013 on the contrary, they were justified, rational and just,\u201d he added.
\nLubowski also ruled that Germany lacks jurisdiction, as the explosions occurred in international waters. The decision may still be subject to appeal.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Poland weighed asylum for Nord Stream bombing suspect \u2013 media<\/p>\n
The German investigation has led to the arrest of another suspect, former military officer Sergey Kuznetsov, detained in Italy in August. Prosecutors allege that he coordinated a team that rented a yacht and planted explosives on the pipelines using commercial diving gear.
\nMoscow has rejected Berlin\u2019s version, dismissing the claim that a small group of Ukrainians carried out the sabotage as \u201cridiculous.\u201d
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin suggested the US likely orchestrated the operation.
\nWarsaw, which has been one of Kiev\u2019s staunchest backers since 2022, allegedly considered granting asylum to the suspect, according to a September report by Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has also said he is ready to do so.
\nPolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who earlier opposed extraditing Zhuravlyov, praised the ruling, writing on social media \u201cThe case is closed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Warsaw court has refused to extradite a Ukrainian suspect wanted by Berlin over the 2022 pipeline blasts A Polish court has refused to extradite a Ukrainian suspect in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t