The alleged Ukrainian saboteur of the Nord Stream gas pipelines was profiled by Politico.

The man accused of being behind the most serious attack on Germany’s energy reserves since World War II she is seen on Facebook standing by the sea and smiling at the camera.

His name: Vladimir Zhuravlev. Nationality: Ukrainian. Place of residence: Kyiv. Occupation: diving instructor.

According to a report by the German news program Tagesschau on Wednesday, a German warrant was issued in June for his involvement in the September 26, 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which run under the Baltic Sea to Germany through Russia.

German investigators suspect that Ukrainian citizens chartered a yacht named “Andromeda” and the divers used it to navigate the pipelines near the island Bornholm, Denmark and plant explosives.

The undersea explosions shut down three of the four Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia to Germany. and since then there has been a “blame game” over who was responsible: Russia, Ukraine, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted last year that his country was not behind the attack, saying: “I would never act like that.”

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline had been operating since 2011. Nord Stream 2 was completed but had not yet started pumping natural gas by the time of the attacks. The pipelines were extremely controversial projects, with Ukraine, the US, Poland, and more criticizing Germany for Russian gas “tying” it to Russia energy-wise – until Moscow’s general invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

After the Russian invasion, Germany stopped importing Russian natural gas.

Although the pipeline was not carrying natural gas at the time of the explosions, German investigators pointed out that the attack had been planned by a Ukrainian group as early as 2014, Welt and POLITICO — both owned by German publisher Axel Springer — reported. The energy project had been repeatedly criticized by Ukraine.

According to leaked documents published online, the US had information that Ukraine was planning to attack Baltic Sea gas pipelines three months before the explosions, the Washington Post reported last year.

However, some Western and German intelligence officials told Welt am Sonntag and POLITICO that they had doubts about Ukraine’s responsibility, considering provocation aimed at covering up Russia’s involvement.

This theory is particularly popular in Polish security circles, which sent a document with names of Russian suspects to the German Federal Intelligence Service BND. However, German investigators were not convinced, and prosecutors moved to issue an arrest warrant for Zhuravlev.

Denmark and Sweden also opened investigations into the blasts, but those investigations were suspended without naming a suspect.

The German authorities forwarded Zhuravlev’s arrest warrant in Poland in June after they were able to identify him thanks to photographs and witness statements, Die Zeit reported.

However, Zuravlev was not arrested because he had left Poland for Ukraine in early July, Anna Adamiak, spokeswoman for Poland’s attorney general, told Polish media. He added that Germany had not listed the suspect on the wanted listwhich is why the Polish border guards did not know that he was wanted when he crossed the border.

Tagesschau also named two other people as suspects along with Zhuravlev – married couple Svitlana and Yevhen U., who run a diving school in Ukraine and for whom Zhuravlev is said to have worked as a diver.

In an interview with POLITICO on Wednesday morning, Svitlana Uspenska said neither she nor her husband were involved in the attack, insisting she was in Kiev at the time.

Ouspenska confirmed that she is a diver herself, “but my maximum depth is 30 meters”. The explosions took place at a depth of 70 to 80 meters, which he said may have been done by special forces, but not by her. She added that she plans to sue German media for “several million euros” for naming her in the case.

She fled her homeland after the Russian invasion and lived with her children in, among other places, Austria and Bulgaria. Ouspenska is now in Poland. Her husband Yevhen is fighting against the Russian troops.

Ouspenska provided POLITICO with several photos and related geographic data showing her in various locations in Ukraine in the fall of 2022. It is unclear what role German authorities attribute to her and her husband in planning and carrying out the attack.

Zhuravlev has not responded to POLITICO’s request for comment.