A Ukrainian national and trained diver was arrested on Wednesday morning in Croatia as a suspect in the Nord Stream pipeline attacks of September 2022, the German federal prosecutor's office said.
The man, identified as Vladimir Z in compliance with Germany's privacy laws, was arrested in the city of Pula. He was detained by local police in coordination with the General Police Directorate in Zagreb, German prosecutors said.
The man is "strongly suspected" of jointly causing an explosive to detonate as well as sabotage and destruction of structures, they said.
The explosions near the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm in September 2022 severely damaged both Nord Stream pipelines, bringing gas flows to a complete halt. Before the attack, Nord Stream 1 transported Russian natural gas to Germany, while Nord Stream 2 had not yet entered service.
In the months following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow had repeatedly reduced or suspended deliveries through Nord Stream 1.