Polish judge refuses to extradite Nord Stream suspect for “righteous act”

A Polish judge has refused to extradite a Ukrainian citizen – suspected by Germany of sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022 – arguing that if Ukraine was responsible for the attack, then it was a “just” act.

Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, who was brought to Warsaw District Court in handcuffs, was arrested in Poland last month on a European arrest warrant.

Judge Dariusz Lubowski ordered his release, after a decision that sparked a wave of surprise from the crowd in court and a smile from the man in the dock.

Mr. Zhuravlyov, along with others, is suspected of planting explosives at the bottom of the Baltic Sea on pipelines linking Russia to Germany.

Responsibility for the blasts, which crippled a long-controversial energy supply line between Russia and Germany, initially focused on Moscow until signs of Ukrainian involvement began to emerge.

Kyiv officials have repeatedly denied any role.

Extradition cases within the EU are generally quick and straightforward, but the Nord Stream case is proving very different.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government is a key ally of war-torn Ukraine, immediately declared on X that the decision was right.

“Case closed,” he wrote.

In the huge Warsaw courthouse, Judge Lubowski announced his decision to the suspect, his family and his legal team, as well as a large number of television cameras.

In a long and passionate speech, he said he was only considering the request to send Mr. Zhuravlyov to Germany, and not the merits of the case itself. But he made it clear that the context of the war in Ukraine was critical.

The judge described the Russian invasion as “a bloody and genocidal attack” and argued, citing Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas, that Ukraine had a legal right to defend itself.

“If Ukraine and its special forces… mounted an armed mission to destroy enemy pipelines – which the court does not prejudge – then these actions were not illegal.

“On the contrary, they were justified, rational and fair,” he told the court.

He said the attack had “deprived the enemy of billions of euros paid by Germany for gas… and weakened Russia’s military potential.”

What might be considered terrorism or sabotage in peacetime, the judge said, is different in wartime.

Germany had actually halted the use of the two Nord Stream 1 gas pipelines after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Nord Stream 2 had not yet entered service.

Poland has always strongly criticized this project, which would make Berlin too dependent on Moscow. This route deprived Poland of gas transit costs. Ukraine and the United States were also long-time opponents of the pipelines.

Judge Lubowski insisted, however, that his decision was a legal one, not an emotional or political one.

He also questioned whether Germany had the jurisdiction to even make its case, given that the explosions occurred in international waters on pipelines majority-owned by the Russian state.

Announcing that Mr Jouravlev would be released, he said the Ukrainian would also receive compensation from the Polish state.

“I’m happy… it’s been a really, really difficult three weeks,” Mr Zhuravlyov’s wife, Yulianna, told the BBC outside court after the judge’s verdict.

“For me, as a Ukrainian, it was very important to hear that he understands us.”

She said the family plans to stay in Poland, where they have lived since February 2022.

Earlier, she described her husband’s arrest at their home just outside Warsaw and said he denied any involvement in the sabotage.

Volodymyr Zhuravlyov is a deep-sea diver, his wife confirmed, but she called it a hobby and said he had no military role.

He owns a company in Poland that installs air conditioners. Ms Zhuravlyova could not tell the BBC exactly where her husband was when three of the four Nord Stream gas pipelines exploded, because she said no one asked her to check.

He is not the only suspect on the German list: another Ukrainian was arrested in Italy in August while on vacation.

Serhiy Kuznetsov was also accused of “unconstitutional sabotage” and denied any connection to the explosions. He is currently being held in a high-security prison in northern Italy.

A court in Bologna ruled that he should be extradited to Berlin, but earlier this week that verdict was overturned by Rome’s highest appeals court and the case was sent back to Bologna to start again.

Asked about the decision, Germany’s foreign minister said he respected the decision and that it was not the government’s place to interfere with the courts.