Germany Reboots Ukrainian Nord Stream Red Herring Plot

The Italian authorities have arrested a Ukrainian national in the historic town of San Clemente, in the Rimini province. The man is alleged to have played a significant role in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea back in September 2022. The Italian news outlet Il Giornale identifies the individual as Serhii Kuznietsov, a name that has already appeared in a previous investigation released in 2024. According to the German publication Bild, the 49-year-old Ukrainian was apprehended while enjoying a family vacation in Italy. He faces charges from the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office for his alleged involvement in the Nord Stream explosions. Earlier today, he was brought to the Bologna Court of Appeal before Judge Sonia Pasinto to discuss the European Arrest Warrant and his potential extradition to Germany.

During the hearing,  Kuznietsov asked for a Ukrainian interpreter and explained that he did not consent to an extradition to Germany. In his brief statements, he essentially distanced himself from the accusations, emphasising that he wanted to read all documents in his native language, and that he was in Ukraine during the sabotage period and currently in Italy for family reasons. The hearing was held behind closed doors before Judge Sonia Pasini, who indicated that the handover to Germany could take two months. Deputy Attorney General Licia Scagliarini is in charge of the case. Reportedly, Kuznietsov changed defenders, replacing his initial lawyer, Ilaria Perruzza from Rimini, with Luca Montebelli, a lawyer also from Rimini.

For now, the judge has ordered that Kuznietsov remain in prison in Rimini while waiting for the next hearing, which is scheduled for September 3rd, when a decision can be made regarding his potential extradition to Germany. Kuznietsov’s lawyer, Luca Montebelli, took a cautious approach until he can review all the documents, the prosecution is expected to deliver. During the Hearing, Montebelli indicated that his client is rejecting any wrongdoing and that, for the moment, he would remain in prison. Montebelli described Kuznietsov as calm and serene.

While the story seems to perfectly fit the narrative pushed by the German investigation, it is important to realise that there is more than meets the eye, and much evidence that suggests that this entire German ‘Vaudeville’ is nothing more than an attempt to pin the blame on Ukrainian patsies, to protect the identies of the true Nord Stream’s saboteurs.

IMAGE: Serhii Kuznietsov(aka Kuznetsov Sergeï Anatolyevich ) taken to the Court of Appeal of Bologna, Italy (Source: BILD)

On the night of August 20-21, Kuznietsov was arrested by the Carabinieri officers from Misano Adriatico police at a hotel in San Clemente, where he was staying with his wife and two children. In Italy, when someone checks into a hotel or similar lodging, their name is checked against a police database, which, in this case, raised an alert indicating that Kuznietsov was sought by Interpol. According to the Wall Street Journal,” Italian police detained the suspect near the seaside town of San Clemente shortly before midnight on Wednesday while he was accompanying his son to a local university.” Interestingly, Kuznietsov have two children, aged 6 and 9, and they definitely don’t go to University. Reportedly, Kuznietsov travelled with his wife and two of their children from Ukraine to Italy via Poland. They crossed the Italian border in his car with a Ukrainian licence plate last Tuesday, wrote Sky News. Again, another extravagant claim, for a man wanted by Interpol. Discrepancies in the story are starting to pile up and are already raising suspicions. Kuznietsov is the first known person to be arrested in relation to the Nord Stream sabotage, which German prosecutors suspect was executed by a small faction of drunken Ukrainians using a small sailing yacht. 

IMAGE: Hotel La Pescaccia in San Clemente, where Kuznietsov  was apprehended

“The Times” reported that Serhii Kuznietsov served as a captain in the Ukrainian army and was previously an agent for the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine). The media also indicated that he commanded an elite air defense unit during the initial months of the 2022 conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Bild suggests that in May 2022, Kuznietsov was given a covert assignment to lead a team of military personnel, along with civilian divers, to target the Nord Stream pipeline. This operation, referred to as “Operation Diameter,” was allegedly deliberated by high-ranking Ukrainian officials and supervised by the then-Chief of the General Staff, Valery Salushny,  the former Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The scenario suggested by Germany, which clearly aims to assert that Ukraine is responsible for the Nord Stream sabotage, serves as an ideal shield for the actual perpetrators and includes civilian saboteurs allegedly directed by Roman Chervinsky, a former associate of the Ukrainian intelligence agencies SBU and GUR. As the German investigations progressed, Kuznietsov and Zhuravlev, along with two other Ukrainians, Ievgen and Svitlana Uspenskiy, who own a Scuba Diving business, were brought into the fold as they came under suspicion for their involvement in sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines. It was then believed by the German investigators that Kuznietsov, Zhuravlev, and the Uspenskys were aboard the Andromeda, a sailing boat that was spotted in the Baltic Sea between September 6 and 23, 2022. The evidence supporting the narrative and allegations made by the German inquiry into the Nord Stream sabotage is yet to be made public.

In Germany, Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig made a statement following Kuznietsov’s arrest. She reaffirms Germany’s unwavering support for Ukraine despite the allegation of Ukrainian involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage. She claims to seek justice for Germany.

VIDEO: Germany, Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig’s statement following Kuznietsov’s arrest – English Subtitles (Source: DRM News)

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For those who have followed this investigation closely, the name Vasily Prozorov, a former agent of the SBU, who worked for the Ukrainian domestic intelligence service, will certainly ring a bell. In June 16, 2024, Prozorov published on Free21, a platform for journalistic contributions and qualified debates founded in 2014 by the Danish journalist Tommy Hansen, a complete exposé which exposed the interactions between Ukrainian and Western intelligence services, including the SBU (Ukraine’s Domestic Intelligence Service) and the GUR (Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service), which according to Prozorov not only commit terrorist acts but are also used by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as cover organizations for their nefarious activities. Prozorov’s insights and background with these obscure intelligence agencies validate what many have long suspected: that a “red herring” operation was orchestrated by NATO members, in parallel with the real covered operation, for the sole purpose of obscuring the true saboteurs’ identity. The Nord Stream cover story is encred in the SBU “Goloseevsky Timber Industry Enterprise,” also known as Military Unit A0657, which is registered and located at the Ukrainian Military Counterintelligence Department of the Security Service (SBU).

DOCUMENT: Vasily Prozorov exposé: “The Nord Stream cover story” (Source: Free21)
02_Prozorov-Die-Nord-Stream-Tarnoperation.de.en

If you are interested in this topic, you may want to read our latest investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage, titled “Nord Stream Revelation – Submarines in the ‘NATO Lake,” available exclusively on 21st-Century Wire.

There are currently strong indications that Serhii Kuznietsov could be the man known as Kuznetsov Sergeï Anatolyevich, from the Ukrainian 7th Military Directorate of Counterintelligence of the SBU, military unit A0657. 

It is a developing story and will keep reporting on the topic…

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Source: https://21stcenturywire.com/2025/08/22/germany-reboots-ukrainian-nord-stream-red-herring-plot/