![\"Italian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760637837.jpg\" "\\"Italian")
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Photo credit: tvpworld.com<\/p>\n
The explosions damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which had been transporting Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea until Russia halted supplies at the end of August 2022. <\/strong><\/p>\n Italy’s top court has rejected the extradition<\/a> to Germany of a Ukrainian man arrested on suspicion of setting off explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, his lawyer said on Thursday, News.Az<\/a> reports citing foreign media.<\/a><\/p>\n Italy’s Cassation Court annulled a previous decision by a Bologna appeals court on Wednesday, which had ordered the extradition to Germany of the 49-year-old suspect, Serhii Kuznietsov.<\/p>\n The Italian top court has now demanded another panel of the same appeals court to reassess the case, said Kuznietsov’s lawyer, Nicola Canestrini.<\/p>\n Canestrini said the motivations of the Cassation court’s decision have not been filed yet and are expected in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n “In the meantime, I will evaluate whether the conditions exist to request my client’s release, since the legal basis for detention has ceased to exist,” Canestrini added.<\/p>\n The explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which carried Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea until Russia cut of supplies at the end of August 2022.<\/p>\n They also damaged the parallel Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n German prosecutors opened an investigation after the explosions and officials have pointed to an interest in clearing up what happened.<\/p>\n Kuznietsov was detained on a European arrest warrant on 21 August, at a camping ground near the Adriatic coastal city of Rimini, where he was on holiday with his family.<\/p>\n During his first hearing confirming his detention, Kuznietsov denied any involvement in the explosions, saying he was in Ukraine where he was serving in the army as a captain at the time of the blasts.<\/p>\n German prosecutors allege that Kuznietsov organised and carried out the detonation of at least four bombs between 14 and 27 kilograms at a depth of 70-80 metres in the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm on 26 September 2022, according to the extradition papers.<\/p>\n Polish authorities arrested another Ukrainian citizen last month who is also suspected of involvement in the undersea explosions.<\/p>\n The Warsaw District Court is expected to rule on his extradition on Friday, but the decision can be appealed.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in early October that it was not “in the interest of Poland” to extradite the man.<\/p>\n