Croatian court approves extradition of Ukrainian to Germany in Nord Stream case
A Croatian court in Pula has approved the extradition to Germany of Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Zhuravlov, suspected of involvement in the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline bombings. The ruling is not final, as his lawyer announced an appeal.
A court in Pula, Croatia, has agreed to extradite Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Zhuravlov to Germany, where he is suspected of involvement in the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. His lawyer, Ljubo Pavasović Visković, announced the decision on Thursday, adding that an appeal would be filed, meaning the ruling is not yet final.
Zhuravlov was detained in Croatia last month while working on a Hollywood film about the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. The Pula court confirmed the extradition on September 18.
Charges and link to another case
German prosecutors allege that Zhuravlov is a trained diver and accuse him of helping to plant explosives on the pipeline. According to prosecutors, he worked in close cooperation with another Ukrainian, Serhii Kuznietsov, who was extradited to Germany from Italy last year. Kuznietsov is due to appear before the Hamburg Higher Regional Court on October 14, with the trial expected to run until February.
Background on Nord Stream
In late September 2022, a series of explosions damaged the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. Nord Stream 1 had previously carried Russian gas to Germany, but supplies had already been halted by the time of the blasts due to Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine. Nord Stream 2, meanwhile, had not yet entered service — a process also delayed by Russian aggression against Ukraine.
