Tusk opposes extraditing Nord Stream blasts suspect to Germany

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he opposes the extradition of a Ukrainian man wanted in Germany in connection with the 2022 explosions that hit the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

The suspect, a 46-year-old identified by Germany under a European arrest warrant as Volodymyr Z, was arrested last week near Warsaw.

A Polish court has ordered 40 days of pre-trial detention while authorities review the German case files. A court will then decide on extradition.

Tusk, speaking during a visit to Lithuania on Tuesday, said he would the court’s decision — but made his position on the case clear.

“It is certainly not in Poland’s interest, nor in the interest of decency and justice, to prosecute this citizen or extradite him to another country,” Tusk said at a press conference.

On the social media platform X,he was similarly direct: “The problem with North Stream 2 is not that it was blown up. The problem is that it was built.”

From the start, Poland had opposed the construction of the underwater pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia directly to Germany, arguing they would increase Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.

According to Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the man is a trained diver who allegedly took part in the group that planted explosives on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022. He is charged with jointly causing an explosion and unconstitutional sabotage.

Nord Stream 1 had supplied Russian gas to Germany, while Nord Stream 2 had not yet become operational due to Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine launched in February 2022. Both are offline.