Italy’s highest court has upheld the extradition of Ukrainian citizen Serhii Kuznietsov to Germany, where he is suspected of involvement in the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
According to Italy’s public broadcaster Rai, the Court of Cassation on Wednesday rejected an appeal lodged by Kuznietsov against an earlier decision of the Court of Appeal in Bologna, thereby confirming his transfer to German jurisdiction in the Nord Stream case.
The ruling means that Italian authorities are now expected to hand Kuznietsov over to officers of the German federal police within days, under a European Arrest Warrant issued by German prosecutors. The 49-year-old Ukrainian was detained on 21 August 2025 at a campsite near Rimini, where he was on holiday with his family, after German investigators identified him as a key suspect in the operation that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in September 2022.
German authorities allege that Kuznietsov took part in, and helped coordinate, the placement of explosive devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm. He faces charges including conspiracy to cause explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage and destruction of strategically important infrastructure. German investigators say multiple charges relate to bombs weighing between 14 and 27 kilogrammes.
The case has been before the Italian courts for several months. In mid-September, a court in Italy first ordered Kuznietsov’s extradition to Germany, but his defence team succeeded in suspending the process after the Supreme Court identified procedural defects and sent the matter back to Bologna. On 27 October, the Bologna Court of Appeal again ruled in favour of extradition, a decision now definitively confirmed by the Court of Cassation.
Kuznietsov, described in Italian and Ukrainian reports as a former officer in the Ukrainian armed forces, has consistently denied any role in the blasts. During court hearings he argued that at the time of the Nord Stream explosions he was serving as an army captain in Ukraine and could not have been present at the alleged crime scene.
His lawyer, Nicola Canestrini, said after the Supreme Court’s ruling that the legal “battle is far from over”. He stated that the defence would now continue in Germany, where local counsel would be able to develop arguments already prepared in Italy, once they are granted full access to the case file – something he said had so far been systematically denied.
The conditions of Kuznietsov’s detention in Italy have already attracted attention in Kyiv. Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets has formally acknowledged that Kuznietsov served in the Ukrainian armed forces and has sent letters to Italian authorities raising concerns about his treatment. An adviser from Lubinets’s office was recently permitted to visit Kuznietsov in prison following complaints about alleged violations of his fundamental rights.
In late October, Kuznietsov launched a hunger strike to protest his conditions and the length of the extradition proceedings, before ending it in November after more than ten days. Ukrainian officials have said they will monitor his case to ensure that his procedural rights are protected while emphasising their respect for the legal processes of EU member states.
The extradition comes against the background of a broader German investigation that has increasingly focused on suspected Ukrainian involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage. On several occasions, German and international media have reported that prosecutors believe a small group of Ukrainians used a chartered yacht to deploy explosives on the seabed. A recent Wall Street Journal report went further, citing German investigators as saying the operation may have been conducted under the control of former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi – an allegation he has publicly rejected as a “provocation”.
Kyiv has consistently denied any state role in the attack. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said Ukraine knew nothing about plans to destroy the pipelines and called claims of Ukrainian involvement “funny” and lacking proof. Ukrainian security officials have also dismissed suggestions that the country’s leadership ordered or approved such an operation.
The Nord Stream pipelines, running from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were severely damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022, cutting key gas routes to Europe at a time of heightened tensions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Investigations by Sweden and Denmark were closed in early 2024 without charges, while Germany’s inquiry continues.
Kuznietsov is not the only Ukrainian national sought by Germany in the case. Polish authorities have detained another suspect, identified as Volodymyr Z., but Warsaw has signalled it will not extradite him, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk stating that handing him over would not be in Poland’s national interest. That divergence between Italy and Poland highlights differing legal and political approaches within the EU to alleged Ukrainian involvement in attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
Once transferred to Germany, Kuznietsov is expected to become the first suspect to face German courts directly over the Nord Stream sabotage. Any eventual trial is likely to test how European jurisdictions legally qualify the blasts – as terrorist acts, sabotage, or actions connected to an armed conflict – and could have wider implications for debates over accountability, intelligence cooperation and continued European support for Ukraine. For now, however, the Italian ruling primarily marks a procedural turning point in a complex investigation that remains unresolved more than three years after the pipelines were blown up.
Europe divided as courts balk at transfers in Nord Stream inquiry
