Croatian court allows extradition of Ukrainian Zhuravlev to Germany in Nord Stream case
The District Court of the Croatian city of Pula has allowed the extradition to Germany of Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Zhuravlev, whom German law enforcement officers suspect of involvement in the bombing of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
The court made the decision on September 18 and provided it to the parties in writing five days later. This is stated in the court decision, which is available to “Suspilny”.
According to the document, after the decision enters into force, the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs must hand over Zhuravlev to the competent authorities in Germany.
The Ukrainian’s lawyer, Mykola Katerynchuk, called the decision biased and political. According to him, the defense plans to challenge the verdict on appeal.
Germany has sent Croatia two European arrest warrants for Zhuravlev. One of them qualifies his actions as unconstitutional sabotage, intentional causing of an explosion and destruction of structures, and the updated warrant also qualifies as a “war crime.”
According to the German investigation, Zhuravlev was one of four Ukrainian divers who could have participated in planting explosives on gas pipelines in 2022. The fact of his involvement has not yet been established by the court.
Zhuravlev was detained in Croatia on August 19, 2026. Prior to that, in September 2025, he had already been detained in Poland on the basis of a German warrant. However, a Polish court refused to extradite him to Germany and ordered the Ukrainian to be released.
We will remind you that the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office has published the text of the indictment against Ukrainian citizen Serhiy Kuznetsov, who is suspected of involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in 2022 .
It was previously reported that former Nord Stream 2 CEO and Putin’s friend Matthias Warnig is developing a plan to restart the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe with the support of American investors .
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