The man, identified as Vladimir Z, was arrested in Pula, Croatia, by local police acting on a European arrest warrant, Sky news reported.
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Prosecutors said the suspect was a trained scuba diver and part of a group led by a former Ukrainian army officer, Serhii K – who in July became the first person charged over the 2022 underwater blasts.
Serhii K was charged with orchestrating the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines while acting on behalf of Ukrainian state entities.
He has denied involvement, while authorities in Kyiv said they did not have enough information to respond in detail to the German allegations.
Explosive devices were planted on the gas pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.
Serhii K and his accomplices allegedly set off from Rostock on Germany’s northeastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack.
The Croatian justice ministry said in a statement that it had not received official information on the latest arrest.
It added that under EU law, authorised bodies speak to each other about extradition matters – and in this case, a Pula court will decide if Vladimir Z is extradited to Germany, as Serhii K was last November.
Serhii K was detained in August 2025 after officers raided a bungalow in an Italian village where he was staying with his family. Police said he surrendered without resistance.
Russia and Western countries described the September 2022 explosions as sabotage.
The attacks, which came after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline – a vital route for Russian gas exports to Europe – as well as the Nord Stream 2, which had yet to be used.
