Nord Stream undermining: Italian court approves extradition of Ukrainian to Germany

An Italian appeals court has upheld a decision to extradite a Ukrainian to Germany in the Nord Stream case.

The decision was confirmed by the lawyer of the detained Sergei Kuznetsov, the Italian publication ANSA reported.

Ukrainian Sergei Kuznetsov was arrested in late August near Rimini on a European arrest warrant. He is accused of participating in the bombing of gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea.

The man’s lawyer, Nicola Canestrini, announced a new appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation.

According to him, the proceedings “have serious procedural irregularities that jeopardize their legitimacy and compliance with the principles of due process of law.”

He noted that there are concerns about the possibility of using documents from proceedings that have already been declared invalid by the court of cassation.

The lawyer also indicated that procedural and prison guarantees in the requesting state have not been effectively verified. In addition, the court did not take into account “aspects of functional immunity and the political nature of the alleged crime of sabotage.”

As a reminder, on October 17, a Polish court refused to extradite to Germany Ukrainian Volodymyr Zhuravlev, suspected of blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines.

As previously reported by USM, Germany issued arrest warrants for six Ukrainians on suspicion of blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. According to the investigation, seven people were involved in the operation in 2022. To get to the place where the explosives were planned to be planted, they used the yacht Andromeda.