This is a weird follow-up to the Nord Stream pipeline explosion. Apparently, German investigators are on the hunt for a Ukranian suspect who was hiding out in Warsaw, Poland. Why Germany, and not the USA? Because the USA previously blamed Russia, and it will look silly now if they admit it wasn’t Putin.
The Ukranian suspect is named is “Volodymyr Z”, and before the Polish police could arrest him and turn him over to the German police, Volodymyr Z slipped back across the border into Ukraine. That’s the story, and apparently, they are sticking to it.
BERLIN, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Poland received a European arrest warrant issued by Berlin in connection with the 2022 attack on Nord Stream pipelines, but the suspect, a Ukrainian man named as Volodymyr Z, has already left Poland, Polish prosecutors told Reuters.
He was able to leave as Germany had failed to include his name in a database of wanted persons, added the prosecutors.
The multi-billion dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of explosions in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
German investigators believe Volodymyr Z, a Ukrainian diver, was part of a team that planted the explosives, the SZ and Die Zeit newspapers reported alongside the ARD broadcaster, citing unnamed sources.
Polish National Public Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Anna Adamiak said German authorities sent a European warrant to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw in June for Volodymyr Z in connection with proceedings conducted against him in Germany.
“Ultimately, Volodymyr Z was not detained because at the beginning of July he left Polish territory, crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border,” she wrote in an emailed statement in reply to Reuters questions.
“Free crossing of the Polish-Ukrainian border by the above-mentioned person was possible because German authorities … did not include him in the database of wanted persons, which meant that the Polish Border Guard had no knowledge and no grounds to detain Volodymyr Z.” (read more)
Hey, at least they have stopped claiming President Putin did it. So, there’s that.
