Poland Lets Ukrainian Wanted By Germany In Nord Stream Blasts Walk Free: ‘A Just Act’

A Polish court has simply let a Ukrainian citizen suspected by Germany of sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022 walk free.

The Polish judge ruling in the case not only decided to ignore the European arrest warrant issued by German authorities last month, but went so far as to say that if the man did have a part in the undersea bombing, then it was a “just” act.

The suspect, identified as Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, has been wanted by Germany and the case has attracted international attention and controversy; but upon being freed the crowd in the court room reportedly let out cheers.

He’s said to have been a Ukrainian diver involved in the covert operation on behalf of Kiev. “A Ukrainian man suspected of being involved in causing undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022 was arrested in Poland, a spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw said Tuesday,” The Associated Press reported last week.

This marked the second recent arrest related to the Nord Stream sabotage investigation, as last month another Ukrainian man was arrested in Italy in connection.

According to more fresh details of these new developments:

Volodymyr Zhuravlov, 46, was arrested near Warsaw Sept. 30 on a German warrant. German prosecutors have described him as a trained diver and allege that he was part of a group that placed explosives on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm three years ago.

The Warsaw District Court rejected his extradition on Friday and ordered his immediate release.

The man’s lawyer, Tymoteusz Paprocki, said ahead of the hearing that “my client doesn’t admit guilt, he didn’t commit any crime against Germany and he doesn’t understand why these charges were made by the German side.” He said he also would argue that no Ukrainian should be charged with any action directed against Russia.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has made clear that it would not be in Poland’s interest to hand over the suspect, and has even expressed praise for the suspect.

Tusk said of the Warsaw court having rejected the extradition that it was “rightly so”. He then said that “the case is closed.”

The mainstream media narrative on this major event which came early in the Ukraine war has shifted dramatically several times. In the opening months, the MSM was lockstep in collectively assuming Russia must have bombed its own key pipelines, effectively economically sabotaging itself and a (at the time) leading European energy export partner.

Then, as we highlighted, there was in 2024 the “bombshell” WSJ Nord Stream report which was a shift, but yet another attempt by mainstream gatekeepers to put official distance between President Zelensky and his supposedly ‘rogue’ top general at the time who ‘oversaw’ the covert op. All the while, legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has said the CIA and an elite US Navy team are the real culprits.