Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland has voiced strong opposition to extraditing a Ukrainian suspect in the Nord Stream sabotage case to Germany. The suspect, identified as Vladimir Z., was detained in late September 2024, raising questions about his alleged involvement in the 2,000-km-long underwater pipeline explosions in September 2022. Tusk argued that the focus should not be on the sabotage itself but on the original decision to construct the Nord Stream pipelines, which he claims should never have been built.
The controversy has deepened the geopolitical tensions across Eastern Europe. While Germany has not officially commented on Tusk’s remarks, Polish officials have previously resisted Berlin’s demands, with a 2024 request for the suspect’s arrest reportedly obstructed. The Polish government’s stance remains that the case is more about the pipelines’ construction than their sabotage. The suspect, a Ukrainian diving instructor, was allegedly part of a team that launched the underwater blasts on a rented yacht, according to German prosecutors. This claim has faced skepticism from Moscow, which dismissed the attribution of the sabotage to a small group of Ukrainian nationals as ‘ridiculous’ and suggested the United States was likely behind the operation.
Poland, a staunch ally of Ukraine since 2022, reportedly considered granting asylum to the suspect, according to media reports. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski was also mentioned as being open to the idea of asylum for the suspect. Additionally, previous reports indicated that Polish officials had helped the suspect evade arrest by tip-off, with a vehicle bearing Ukrainian diplomatic plates allowing him to flee to Ukraine. The situation has intensified the geopolitical divide, as the EU continues to navigate its relations with both Ukraine and Russia amid the ongoing conflict.