Trial for Ukrainian officer in Nord Stream gas pipeline explosion begins

The trial of a former Ukrainian army officer accused of causing the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosion in 2022 began Wednesday. 

Prosecutors in Germany are charging the suspect, Serhii Kuznietsov, with causing an explosion, damaging property, disrupting public service and being an “accomplice to war crimes” by attacking civilian infrastructure, the Associated Press reported. 

Kuznietsov is alleged to be the ringleader of the attack on the pipeline, which transported natural gas from Russia to Germany. Moscow was initially blamed for the attack, but investigators later linked the sabotage — considered the largest such act against civilian infrastructure since World War II — to Ukrainian state security agencies, despite Ukraine being a close ally of Germany. 

According to prosecutors, the aim of the plot was to permanently disrupt gas deliveries and prevent Russia from using the revenues from the sale of gas to finance military operations against Ukraine.