Second suspect in 2022 Nord Stream blasts arrested in Croatia

Sabotage

Russia and Western countries have described the September 2022 explosions, which followed Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier that year, as sabotage.

The explosions damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, a vital route for Russian gas exports to Europe, as well as the Nord Stream 2 branch, which had yet to enter service. At the time, Moscow had recently halted gas deliveries via Nord Stream 1, blaming Western sanctions and technical issues, though Europe accused it of weaponising energy supplies.

The German prosecutors have said the aim of the alleged attack was to permanently halt gas deliveries through the pipelines and thereby prevent Russia from using revenue from the natural gas trade to finance its war effort.

German courts have treated the case as falling within their jurisdiction because the damaged pipelines end in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and their loss affected Germany's energy security and internal safety.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade, Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo, editing by Miranda Murray and Alexander Smith)