Russia files complaint to Germany over Nord Stream sabotage investigation, RIA reports

Russia has complained to Germany over its investigation into the 2022 explosions of the Nord Stream pipelines, RIA news agency reported on Monday, after a key suspect escaped arrest in Poland.

German media reported last week that German prosecutors had identified a Ukrainian diving instructor as a key suspect in the Nord Stream sabotage attack and issued a warrant to arrest him in Poland.

Poland received the German warrant but the suspect has left the country as Germany failed to include his name in a database of wanted persons, Polish prosecutors told Reuters.

Moscow believes the German investigation will be closed without identifying those responsible, RIA cited Oleg Tyapkin, the head of a European department at the Russian foreign ministry, as saying.

“We have raised the issue of Germany and other affected countries fulfilling their obligations under the UN anti-terrorist conventions,” Tyapkin said.

“We have officially made corresponding claims on this matter bilaterally, including to Berlin.”

The multi-billion dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of explosions in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.