A court in Croatia approved on Thursday the extradition to Germany of Ukrainian citizen Volodimir Juravlov. The man was arrested in August, on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic, based on a European warrant, issued by German authorities. He is suspected of involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea in 2022.
The suspect’s lawyer has three days to appeal.
Volodimir Juravlov is a professional diver. He is under a false identity in Croatia, claiming to be a member of the film crew producing a movie about the sabotage for which he himself is accused.
Entitled “Snake Island”, the film was shot in an area on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic, where the Baltic Sea area, which was the target of sabotage on the pipelines through which Russia supplied natural gas to Europe, could be recreated, writes Agerpres.
Volodimir Juravlov had already been arrested in Poland in September 2025, also on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by Germany. At that time, a Polish judge rejected the extradition and ordered his release.
Another man suspected of involvement in the sabotage operation has been extradited from Italy and is set to stand trial in Hamburg, starting from October 14th. This is about the former Ukrainian officer Serhii Kuznetsov. Volodimir Juravlov would have been his subordinate.
On September 26, 2022, seven months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an underwater explosion damaged one of the two pipelines of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The incident took place near the Danish island of Bornholm.
Other explosions triggered at the same time and in the same area have damaged both pipelines of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, through which Germany has been importing Russian gas since 2011.
After the sabotage, judicial investigations were opened by Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. The investigations were closed in the two Scandinavian countries in 2024, but the German investigation identified a Ukrainian cell composed of five men and one woman who allegedly participated in the sabotage.