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Ukrainian Volodymyr Z. detained near Warsaw

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Suspect wanted by Germany in connection with Nord Stream

blasts

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Lawyer says Volodymyr Z. will fight transfer to Germany

(Recasts with lawyer's confirmation, adds background)

By Anna Koper and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk

WARSAW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Volodymyr Z., a Ukrainian

diver wanted by Germany over his alleged involvement in the Nord

Stream explosions, has been detained in Poland, his lawyer said

on Tuesday.

Described by both Moscow and the West as an act of sabotage,

the explosions in 2022 largely severed Russian gas supplies to

Europe, marking a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and

squeezing energy supplies on the continent. No one has taken

responsibility for the blasts and Ukraine has denied any role.

"This morning, he was detained in a town near Warsaw,"

Volodymyr Z.'s lawyer Tymoteusz Paprocki said.

Private broadcaster RMF FM first reported the arrest. It

said Volodymyr Z. was detained in Pruszkow, west of the capital.

SUSPECT TO FIGHT TRANSFER TO GERMANY

Paprocki said that Volodymyr Z.'s defence would fight

against his transfer to Germany, arguing that the execution of

the European arrest warrant against him was inadmissible given

Russia's war in Ukraine.

"The attack on Nord Stream infrastructure concerns one of

the pipeline's owners, Gazprom, which directly finances the

military operations in Ukraine," he said. Gazprom is Russia's

state gas giant.

The German justice ministry and the federal prosecutor's

office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from

Reuters. Polish prosecutors had no immediate comment.

In August, Italian police arrested a Ukrainian man suspected

of coordinating the attacks. The man, identified only as Serhii

K., plans to take his fight against extradition to Italy's

highest court after a lower court ordered his transfer to

Germany.

Polish prosecutors told Reuters in August that they received

a European arrest warrant issued by Berlin in connection with

the attack on Nord Stream pipelines, but the suspect had already

left Poland.

GAS PIPELINES

German investigators believe Volodymyr Z. was part of a team

that planted the explosives, the SZ and Die Zeit newspapers

reported in August alongside the ARD broadcaster, citing unnamed

sources.

The blasts wrecked three out of four Nord Stream pipelines,

which had become a controversial symbol of German reliance on

Russian gas in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia blamed the U.S., Britain and Ukraine for the blasts,

which largely cut Russian gas off from the lucrative European

market. Those countries have denied involvement.

Germany, Denmark, and Sweden all opened investigations into

the incident, and the Swedes found traces of explosives on

several objects recovered from the explosion site, confirming

the blasts were deliberate acts.

The Swedish and Danish investigations were closed in

February without identifying any suspect.