Overview

• Italian authorities detained 49-year-old Serhii K. in the Rimini area overnight on Aug. 21 under a German warrant issued Aug. 18, and seized his phone and other devices.
• German federal prosecutors say he is strongly suspected of coordinating the placement of explosives on Nord Stream 1 and 2 near Bornholm in September 2022, with charges including causing explosions, unconstitutional sabotage and destruction of buildings.
• Investigators say the group used a sailing yacht rented in Rostock via intermediaries with false identity documents to move the explosives to the target area.
• The arrest was carried out by Carabinieri in Misano Adriatico with Italy’s international police cooperation service and Interpol; Germany will seek his surrender, after which he would appear before an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice.
• The Court of Appeal in Bologna is holding the arrest-validation hearing with up to two months to decide on extradition, marking the first detention in the case as media reports point to a pro‑Ukrainian cell that Kyiv denies.