Nord Stream trial opens in Hamburg: a Ukrainian man denies leading the 2022 pipeline attack, and the court has not ruled yet

A trial began on Wednesday at a court in Hamburg over the explosions that destroyed three of the four Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea on 26 September 2022. Some headlines say the case is shaking Germany. What is actually happening is that a court has started to look at evidence about an attack from four years ago. There is no new attack, and the court has not decided anything yet.

The accused is Serhii Kuznetsov, 50. German investigators say he was an officer in a Ukrainian army sabotage unit and led a team that used a rented yacht, the Andromeda, to place six explosive charges on the pipelines. He is charged with a war crime and with causing explosions. He denies the charges.

Prosecutors point to photos from Baltic ports, speed camera images, a passport photo scanned at the Polish border, searches on his phone about the pipelines, and phone calls recorded while he was held in Italy. Investigators also say they found traces of underwater explosives on the yacht.

His lawyers say four years of work produced only indirect evidence, with no witnesses, no DNA and no fingerprints, and they have asked for the case to be dropped. They also argue he cannot defend himself fairly because, as a soldier, he must keep his missions secret.

The case is sensitive because German prosecutors say the attack was ordered by Ukrainian state bodies, while Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has always denied any Ukrainian role. A German expert told the BBC that German leaders have tried to leave the matter to the courts instead of turning it into a political fight. For context, Russia had already stopped sending gas through Nord Stream 1 weeks before the blasts, and Nord Stream 2 was never used.

A second suspect is due to be handed over to Germany from Croatia, though it is not clear when.

Bottom line: this is a serious case that will take time. Nothing in the reports points to a new danger to the public. The facts will now be tested in court, where both sides get to make their case.