Lawyers for a Ukrainian ex-military officer accused of plotting the September 2022 bombing of Russia’s biggest gas pipeline to Europe argued at the start of his trial on Wednesday that blowing up Russian infrastructure may not have been a crime.
Serhii Kuznetsov is accused of leading a group of Ukrainian agents including divers and an explosives expert that blew up the Nord Stream pipeline in one of the biggest infrastructure sabotage operations of modern times.
The case provides the first opportunity for a public hearing of evidence gathered during a years-long investigation, which has been diplomatically and politically awkward for a German government that remains staunchly supportive of Ukraine despite the investigative trail linking Kyiv to the bombing.
Moving to have the case dismissed, Kuznetsov’s lawyer Nicola Canestrini argued that the pipeline — which provided half of Germany’s imports of natural gas before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — was a “Russian weapon” and therefore potentially a legitimate target.
“Is it unlawful to destroy an aggressor’s infrastructure without harming any human beings?” Canestrini asked.
RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT
Prosecutors have alleged that Kuznetsov, who was arrested under an international warrant in Italy last year, worked with members of the Ukrainian military to plan the clandestine operation on behalf of unidentified Ukrainian state entities.
Kuznetsov, 50, who prior to Wednesday was referred to publicly only as Serhii K. under German legal rules, has denied any involvement in the blasts that ruptured the 1,200-km (750-mile)-long Baltic Sea pipeline.
Wearing a grey suit and with a shaved head, he exercised his right to remain silent in court but did not cover his face. His lawyers said he could not mount a proper defence because he was obliged to withhold Ukrainian state secrets.
“He has to mount a defence with his hands tied,” said Canestrini.
The government in Kyiv has also denied any involvement, a sensitive point in its relations with Germany, Ukraine’s largest European supplier of military aid. Russia said on Monday it expected a “just verdict” that would reveal the names of the perpetrators and those who ordered the operation.
ATTACKING CIVILIAN TARGETS IS CONSIDERED A WAR CRIME
German prosecutors say the actions Kuznetsov is accused of — attacking civilian targets and causing explosions that destroyed infrastructure and damaged public services — would amount to a war crime.
Protesters gathered outside the Hamburg court in support of the defendant, with a sign that read: “What are war crimes?”
“Russia is the only war criminal that belongs in the dock,” said one of the dozens of protesters.
Kuznetsov is the only person on trial, but Croatian authorities have arrested another man, identified as Vladimir Z., who prosecutors believe was one of the divers.
The explosion of Nord Stream sealed the end of Germany’s longstanding dependence on Russian natural gas, although Moscow had already cut supplies over Berlin’s support for European sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nord Stream’s supply had been due to double with the opening of a twin pipeline, Nord Stream 2, already built, but Berlin cancelled approval to open it just prior to Russia’s invasion.
PLUMES OF METHANE GAS
The trial, expected to continue into February next year, could have domestic political implications. Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), leading in opinion polls for more than a year, has called for an end to military aid for Ukraine and a restoration of energy ties with Moscow.
In the initial months after the Nord Stream attacks, Western officials mainly pointed fingers at Russia. Moscow has always denied any involvement and called the suggestion it would blow up its own pipelines absurd.
The Nord Stream system, lying at a depth of 80 to 110 metres under the Baltic and built by Russian gas concern Gazprom to supply up to 110 billion cubic metres of gas to Germany, was formerly at the core of economic ties between the two countries.
The September 26, 2022 blasts that ruptured three of the four concrete-coated steel pipelinescreated a giant whirlpool at sea as huge plumes of methane gas roseinto the atmosphere.
Prosecutors allege that Kuznetsov travelled to Germany through Poland some three weeks before the attack, using a forged Ukrainian passport. He and his group then used a sailboat hired in the northern German city of Rostock to reach an area close to the Danish island of Bornholm, where they rigged specialised military-grade explosives to the sea floor.
The weekly Der Spiegel magazine and ZDF public television have previously reported that five men and one woman were on the rented yacht Andromeda, which left Rostock on September 6 and returned on September 23, 2022.