Germany’s Prosecutor General has formally indicted a Ukrainian national for leading the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, the first criminal prosecution of any individual over one of Europe’s most consequential acts of infrastructure destruction.

The suspect, identified under German privacy law as Serhii K. and named in Ukrainian and German reporting as Serhiy Kuznetsov, had the indictment served Wednesday, his Berlin law firm told Reuters.

🚨 Italy to extradite Ukrainian suspect in Nord Stream blasts to Germany

An Italian court has ruled to hand over to Germany a Ukrainian citizen, Kuznetsov, whom investigators believe led a group of six to seven people. According to Reuters, they included a skipper, several… pic.twitter.com/JDrjdQe0at

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 16, 2025

ARD Tagesschau, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Die Zeit said prosecutors accuse Kuznetsov of attacking civilian energy infrastructure, causing explosions, and destroying structures. The federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment.

Kuznetsov previously served in Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) until 2015 and held an officer’s rank in a Ukrainian special operations unit at the time of the attack. Ministry of Defense records confirmed he served in military unit A0987 from August 10, 2022, to November 28, 2023, at the rank of captain. Open-source reporting links A0987 to Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces Command (SOFCOM), headquartered in Kyiv.

Prosecutors allege Kuznetsov and six others, including a skipper, four divers, and an explosives specialist, departed Rügen no later than September 8, 2022, aboard the sailing yacht Andromeda.

The team placed explosive devices with time-delay fuses on the seabed near Denmark’s Bornholm island, up to 80 meters deep, loaded with hexogen (RDX) and octogen (HMX). All four detonated September 26, 2022, destroying three of the four pipelines.

Kuznetsov was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November. His defense argued functional immunity, contending the attack was a lawful military operation. Germany’s Federal Court of Justice rejected that argument.

Security sources cited by German media described the evidence as overwhelming: intercepted phone calls and RDX/HMX residue from the Andromeda. Kuznetsov denies involvement. His lawyer told Reuters he was confident his client would be acquitted.