A historic trial in Germany... of a Ukrainian officer in the Nord Stream case

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The trial of a former Ukrainian army officer began in Germany on Wednesday over his masterminding underwater explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany four years ago, in an incident considered one of the largest acts of sabotage in Europe since World War II.

In a trial expected to last months, the suspect faces charges of causing an explosion, damaging property, and disrupting a public facility, in addition to “complicity in war crimes” by targeting civilian infrastructure, according to what prosecutors reported.

Under German privacy rules, the court will only reveal the suspect's identity as "Sergei Key," noting that his full name, Sergei Kuznetsov, was publicly announced during extradition proceedings in Italy, according to the Associated Press.

The court said that more than 100 media representatives from around the world, including Britain, China, France, Ukraine and Russia, obtained permission to cover the case.

Meanwhile, pro-Ukrainian protesters gathered outside the court and raised banners bearing phrases including “Russia is a terrorist state” in red font, while the litigants were entering the building.

Explosions that occurred in September 2022 caused damage to the Nord Stream 1 line, which is a main artery for Russian gas exports to Europe, and to the Nord Stream 2 branch, which had not yet entered service, at a time when Moscow had recently stopped gas supplies through the first line and attributed this to Western sanctions and technical problems, according to Reuters.

German federal prosecutors charged the suspect, who was an officer in the Ukrainian army at the time, with participating in a war crime, especially since he admitted that he acted on behalf of Ukrainian government agencies and developed a plan with other soldiers to destroy the two pipelines with the aim of permanently stopping Russian gas supplies to Germany, according to Reuters. He was arrested in Italy in the summer of 2025 and extradited to Germany the following November, and has been detained in Hamburg since then.