Croatian court remands Ukrainian diver Volodymyr Zhuravlev over Nord Stream sabotage

Arrest in Pula

Croatian police arrested Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Zhuravlev on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, at a resort accommodation on the southern edge of the coastal city of Pula. German federal prosecutors had issued a European arrest warrant seeking Zhuravlev on charges including jointly causing an explosive detonation. The suspect, identified in earlier German prosecution filings as Vladimir Z., was registered under his real name at the resort. At the time of his detention, Zhuravlev was working as a technical consultant for "Snake Island", an upcoming political thriller film directed by Doug Liman and starring Sean Penn and Adrien Brody. Photographs published in Croatian media showed two local police officers escorting Zhuravlev in a blue shirt and brown cap to the Pula District Court.

Legal proceedings and extradition timeline

On Thursday, 20 August 2026, a judge at the court in Pula ordered Zhuravlev into pre-trial detention on flight risk grounds following questioning by the county state attorney. His Croatian defence lawyer, Matija Milos, stated that Zhuravlev will formally contest the extradition request through all judicial levels. Under Croatian legal procedure, the entire extradition case, including appeals, must conclude within 60 days. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt confirmed that Berlin is coordinating with Croatian authorities to secure the transfer.

We have a strong interest in clarifying the facts in this context and... ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to Germany, where they will be dealt with appropriately.

Role in the 2022 pipeline blasts

German investigators allege that Zhuravlev was one of the specialized divers who planted explosive charges on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines on 26 September 2022. The underwater blasts occurred near the Danish island of Bornholm, tearing through pipelines that brought Russian natural gas directly across the Baltic Sea to Germany. Prior to his diving career, Zhuravlev served in the Ukrainian military and worked as an instructor for deep dives at the "Scuba Family" diving school in Kyiv. German prosecutors assert jurisdiction over the incident because the pipelines make landfall in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, affecting Germany's internal energy security. Another suspect, former Ukrainian military officer Serhii Kuznetsov, was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November 2025 before being charged in July 2026 with coordinating the operation.

Previous legal battles in Poland

Zhuravlev's legal team plans to challenge the Croatian proceedings by citing a legal precedent established in Poland. Zhuravlev had previously evaded arrest in Poland in 2024 by returning to Ukraine, reportedly in the boot of a diplomatic vehicle. After a subsequent detention in Poland in late September 2025, a Polish court rejected Germany's European arrest warrant, ruling that Germany lacked jurisdiction and concluding that the pipeline destruction could be seen as an act within a defensive war. Polish defence lawyer Tymoteusz Paprocki argued that Croatian courts would be re-evaluating matters already adjudicated by another European Union member state. However, Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic noted that European arrest warrant proceedings follow standardized European Union law, pointing out that Croatia handled about 135 such warrants in the previous year. Both Zhuravlev and Kuznetsov have denied participating in the pipeline attacks.