Volodymyr Zhuravlev, a 50-year-old Ukrainian national and professional diver, was arrested in the Croatian city of Pula in July 2025; he is one of the chief suspects in the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which connect Russia to Germany. According to German prosecutors, Zhuravlev is a former diving instructor affiliated with a school in Kyiv; some reports indicate he trained military divers.

From Evasion to Extradition

Zhuravlev had previously eluded capture. In 2024, he was arrested in Poland but managed to flee back to Ukraine after a Polish court denied Germany’s request to extradite him, while the court ruled that German authorities lacked jurisdiction and that the act could be considered a defensive measure in Ukraine’s war against Russia. Poland has long opposed the Nord Stream projects, viewing them as a geopolitical threat to its own energy security.

In July 2025, Croatian authorities arrested Zhuravlev using a European arrest warrant. He was reportedly in the country to serve as a consultant on a Hollywood film titled Snake Island, directed by Doug Liman and starring Sean Penn and Adrien Brody. The film is a fictionalized account of the Nord Stream sabotage, and Zhuravlev was said to have been advising on the underwater scenes. Photos from Croatian media showed two police officers leading him away from a set in Pula, where he was captured wearing a blue T-shirt and brown cap.

A Hollywood Twist in a Real-Life Mystery

German media noted the surreal coincidence: a suspect in a real-life act of sabotage was helping film a dramatization of the same event. The movie, which was being shot in Zagreb and Pula, had drawn attention from locals due to the sudden setup of film equipment and barricades outside the Esplanade hotel. Director Doug Liman had previously worked on the Jason Bourne series and was quoted saying that he was excited to be filming by the water in Pula, a historic Roman port on the Adriatic coast.

Details about how German authorities were tipped off to Zhuravlev’s location remain unclear; it is also unknown whether Croatian officials were aware of his presence before the arrest. Zhuravlev’s lawyers are now working to prevent his extradition to Germany, arguing that the extradition would create a legal conflict given the previous Polish court ruling. His Polish defense lawyer, Tymoteusz Paprocki, noted that if a Croatian court were to decide on the matter, it would be ruling on a case already considered by another EU member state.

Background on the Nord Stream Explosions

The Nord Stream pipelines—Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2—were damaged by a series of explosions on September 26, 2022, the blasts occurred just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and led to significant gas leakage in the Baltic Sea. Nord Stream 2 had not yet entered service at the time, and the incident remains one of the most enigmatic cases of international sabotage in recent years.

While Germany and other European countries have not officially confirmed who carried out the attack, various intelligence reports and investigations point to Ukrainian involvement; the German government has not formally attributed responsibility but has pursued legal action against individuals it suspects of involvement. Zhuravlev is one of those suspects, and his arrest marks the first time one of them has been apprehended under a European arrest warrant.