Croatian court approves extradition of Ukrainian Nord Stream suspect to Germany

Extradition ruling in Pula

The Pula County Court in Croatia approved on 18 September 2026 the extradition of Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Zhuravlov to German authorities. Parties to the case received formal written notification of the decision five days later on 23 September. The ruling followed two European arrest warrants issued by German federal prosecutors in June 2024 and August 2026. The court formally confirmed the pending transfer in its written ruling.

“After this decision enters into legal force, the Ministry of the Interior of Croatia will hand over Volodymyr Zhuravlov to the competent authorities of Germany.”

Zhuravlov faces allegations in Germany of constitutional sabotage, causing an explosion, destruction of infrastructure, and war crimes tied to attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Defense arguments and legal challenges

Defense lawyers Mykola Katerynchuk and Ljubo Pavasovic Viskovic announced immediate plans to appeal the extradition decision within three days. The defense team argued that the prosecution violates the legal principle of non bis in idem, which prevents individuals from being tried twice for the same offense. In October 2025, the Warsaw District Court in Poland rejected a German extradition request for Zhuravlov and ordered his release from custody. The Croatian court dismissed this precedent, determining that Polish judicial rulings are not binding on Croatian courts applying domestic law. Following the notification of the ruling, Katerynchuk stated that Zhuravlov would begin an indefinite hunger strike to protest the decision.

Investigation into Baltic pipeline attacks

German prosecutors identify Zhuravlov as a trained scuba diver who participated in the 26 September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream energy network. The undersea explosions occurred near the Danish island of Bornholm, destroying three of the four pipelines across the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 links. Investigators believe a six-person Ukrainian team, comprising five men and one woman including four deep-sea divers, planted explosives on the seabed conduits. Danish and Swedish authorities closed their parallel criminal investigations into the pipeline blasts in 2024, leaving Germany as the sole active cross-border probe. Zhuravlov denies all involvement in the operation, maintaining that he remained inside Ukraine when the detonations took place.

Linked suspects and upcoming proceedings

German federal prosecutors have also charged former Ukrainian military officer Serhii Kuznetsov, accusing him of coordinating the pipeline sabotage. Italian authorities arrested Kuznetsov at a family bungalow in August 2025 before extraditing him to Germany in November 2025. Kuznetsov is scheduled to stand trial before the Hamburg Higher Regional Court starting on 14 October 2026, with proceedings expected to run into February 2027. Croatian police arrested Zhuravlov on 19 August 2026 in the coastal town of Pula, where he was working on a film project titled Snake Island that dramatized the pipeline bombings. If extradited and convicted in Germany, Zhuravlov faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years under German law.