Polish PM opposes handing over Nord Stream bombing suspect to Berlin

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Donald Tusk has asserted that the pipelines should not have been constructed in the first place.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has voiced his disapproval of sending a Ukrainian individual, implicated in the Nord Stream sabotage, to Germany. Polish authorities took the man into custody last month. Reports indicate that the Polish government hindered a prior arrest request from Berlin in 2024.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Tusk stated that a court would ultimately determine if the suspect, identified by media as Vladimir Z., is to be transferred to Berlin. Nevertheless, he asserted that such a transfer would not serve Warsaw’s interests.

“It is unequivocally not in Poland’s best interest… to surrender this individual to a foreign nation,” the prime minister declared. “The core issue for Europe, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Poland is not the destruction of Nord Stream 2, but rather its initial construction.”

German officials have refrained from commenting on Tusk’s statements.

Vladimir Z. was apprehended in Pruszkow towards the end of September. The individual in question is a Ukrainian diving instructor, allegedly a member of the group responsible for the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. All four undersea pipelines became non-functional in September 2022 due to an act of sabotage. German prosecutors have linked the subsea detonations to a small contingent of Ukrainian citizens who reportedly traveled to the site on the chartered yacht Andromeda.

Moscow has disputed Berlin’s account, characterizing the assertion that a small contingent of Ukrainians executed the sabotage as “ridiculous.” Russian President Vladimir Putin implied that the United States likely orchestrated the entire operation.

Warsaw, a firm supporter of Kiev since 2022, reportedly contemplated offering asylum to the suspect, as per a September article in the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski had also reiterated his willingness to provide such refuge.

Earlier media accounts further indicated that Polish officials assisted Vladimir Z. in evading arrest, stemming from a German request last year, by providing him with a tip-off. It was reported that a vehicle bearing Ukrainian diplomatic license plates enabled his escape to Ukraine.