A truly “cinematic” twist has emerged in the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage case. The suspect is a Ukrainian professional diver named Volodymyr Zhuravlov, who was arrested in Pula by Croatian authorities acting on a European Arrest Warrant issued by German prosecutors. In a remarkable turn of events, the suspect was reportedly arrested on a film set — where he was working as a consultant for a Hollywood movie dramatizing the very sabotage case for which he now stands accused.
Read also: Nord Stream: Ukrainian arrested in Croatia for pipeline sabotage — expected to be extradited to Germany
Nord Stream: The arrested man was working in Croatia as a film consultant
According to reports from The Guardian and several German media outlets, Zhuravlov was in Croatia in an unexpected professional capacity: he was allegedly working as a technical consultant on the film Snake Island — a dramatized cinematic retelling of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage.
The film is directed by Doug Liman and stars Sean Penn and Adrien Brody. Filming is taking place in Zagreb and in Pula, where scenes involving underwater diving sequences are being shot.
In a striking irony, the man German authorities consider a suspect in the real-life Nord Stream sabotage operation was found in Croatia, according to the same reports, contributing to a fictional recreation of that very operation on the big screen.
Nord Stream: Ukrainian arrested in Croatia for pipeline sabotage
As a reminder, Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the arrest of a Ukrainian national in Croatia in connection with the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. According to the German prosecutors handling the case, Zhuravlov is alleged to have been part of the diving team that planted explosives near the Danish island of Bornholm — explosives that detonated in September 2022, causing severe damage to the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian natural gas to Germany.
German authorities claim the group was linked to former Ukrainian military officer Sergei Kuznetsov, who had previously been arrested in Italy and subsequently extradited to Germany. Kuznetsov has denied any involvement in the case.
Zhuravlov’s arrest in Croatia is not his first encounter with German justice. He had previously been located in Poland; however, a Polish court refused his extradition to Germany at that time.
On that occasion, Zhuravlov himself reportedly argued that the matter concerned not his alleged role in the sabotage, but rather the nature of the Nord Stream pipelines and the fact that they transported Russian natural gas. The decision now rests with the Croatian judiciary, which must rule on whether to extradite him to German authorities.
