Croatian authorities on Wednesday arrested Ukrainian diver Volodymyr Zhuravlev in connection with the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines that connected Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, while he was on the set of a Hollywood film under production. German media reported that Zhuravlev, a scuba diver, had been working as a consultant on the set of an upcoming Hollywood movie called Snake Island, a dramatic reconstruction of the bombings that he was allegedly involved in. Here is more about Zhuravlev, the Nord Stream bombings and the Hollywood connection.
Zhuravlev is a Ukrainian citizen, professional scuba diver and diving instructor. Some reports indicate he is affiliated with a diving school in Kyiv. He is sometimes referred to in German prosecution filings as Vladimir Z, identified under German privacy rules only by his first name and initial.
According to German authorities, he is one of the suspects in the September 2022 Nord Stream pipeline bombing and was reportedly arrested by Croatian authorities. Zhuravlev denies any role in the sabotage. In 2024, Zhuravlev evaded arrest in Poland and fled back to Ukraine.
Last year, a Polish court refused to enforce the European arrest warrant issued by Germany against him, ruling that German authorities had no jurisdiction and that the Nord Stream destruction could be viewed as a justified act by Ukraine in a defensive war. Poland has long opposed the Nord Stream projects. It is unclear whether Zhuravlev was in Croatia without the knowledge of the local authorities, who eventually arrested him.
According to German federal prosecutors, local police forces detained him on a European arrest warrant. Zhuravlev’s lawyers will now try to prevent his extradition to Germany. His Polish defence lawyer, Tymoteusz Paprocki, said if a Croatian court hears this case, it would amount to a ruling on something already decided in Poland, another member state of the European Union, The Guardian reported on Thursday.
On September 26, 2022, explosions occurred along two Nord Stream gas pipelines that run from Russia to Germany. The explosions damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and Nord Stream 2, which was yet to enter service. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, costing about $11bn and owned by Russia’s state-backed energy giant Gazprom, ran under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, doubling the capacity of the existing Nord Stream 1 route.
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