Warsaw says alleged Nord Stream sabotage suspects should avoid liability
Poland's National Security Bureau (BBN) has said the country does not want the suspect or suspects behind the Nord Stream oil pipeline sabotage to be held accountable, responding to German AfD's contrasting stance on the matter.
"The head of the BBN, Prof. (Slawomir - PAP) Cenckiewicz, and consequently the entire Bureau supervised by him and his deputies, maintain the position that it is in the vital interest of the Polish state for the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators of the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipeline (1 and 2) to avoid being held accountable for this act," the body wrote in an X post on Wednesday.
The BBN said that it remains "indisputable" that Russia's war against Ukraine, which began in 2014 and spiralled into a full-scale invasion in 2022, was "partly funded" by profits from the sale of Russian gas flowing through the two Nord Stream pipelines.
"With the blowing up of NS1 and NS2, a significant segment of the financing of the Russian war machine was thereby neutralised," the BBN wrote.
The statement came in response to a post published earlier the same day by Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which quoted its federal spokesman, Tino Chrupalla: "The federal government must stand up for German criminal law and the interests of the citizens against Poland."
On Monday, BBN Chief Slawomir Cenckiewicz told the Financial Times that, from Poland's point of view, the probe into the suspect in the 2022 Nord Stream sabotage "makes no sense." The official was referring to Wolodymyr Z., a Ukrainian national arrested for diving down to the Baltic Sea bed and rupturing three out of four Nord Stream 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany.
Now, Berlin wants Warsaw to extradite the Ukrainian to Germany for legal proceedings.
Cenckiewicz said Poland's and Germany's different stances on the matter highlight the conflict of interest between the two states.
"Prosecuting the Nord Stream saboteurs may be in the interests of German justice, but also in the interests of Russian injustice," he added.
The BBN statement on the situation echoed that of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who said last week that it is not in Poland's interest to hand over the Ukrainian to the other country and added that those responsible for the pipe's construction have to be ashamed of their decisions.
Wolodymyr Z. was detained on September 30 on the outskirts of Warsaw, slightly over two years after the incident in the Baltic Sea. He will remain in Polish custody until November 9. On Friday, Warsaw District Court will decide whether Poland will extradite the man to Germany. (PAP) yb/mf
