The Ukrainian army coordinated the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline

Edited by: Gianna Merat

A senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties to the country’s intelligence services played a key role in the Nord Stream gas pipeline bombing last year, according to officials in Ukraine and other countries in Europe, as well as other people familiar with the details. Of secret business.

The officer’s role links Ukraine’s military and security leadership to a controversial act of sabotage that has led to multiple criminal investigations, and which US and Western officials have described as a serious attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure.

Roman Chervinsky, a decorated 48-year-old colonel who served in Ukrainian special operations forces, was the “coordinator” of Operation Nord Stream, said people familiar with his role, managing a six-man crew that chartered a sailboat under false identities. Deep-water diving equipment was used to place explosives in gas pipelines. On September 26, 2022, three explosions caused massive leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The attack left only one of the four gas connections to the network intact as winter approached.

Czerwinski did not act alone or plan the operation, according to people familiar with his role. The officer took orders from senior Ukrainian officials, who eventually reported to Gen. Vareli Zalozhny, the top Ukrainian military officer, said people familiar with how the operation was conducted, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details about the bombing.

Ukraine launched several bold and secret operations against Russian forces. However, the Nord Stream attack targeted civilian infrastructure built to provide power to millions of people in Europe. While Gazprom, Russia’s state gas conglomerate, owns 51% of the Nord Stream project, Western energy companies, including those from Germany, France and the Netherlands, are partners and have invested billions in the project. Ukraine has long complained that the Nord Stream project would allow Russia to bypass Ukrainian pipelines, depriving Kiev of huge transport revenues.

Through his lawyer, Czerwinski denied any role in sabotaging the lawsuits. “All speculation about my involvement in the Nord Stream attack is spread by Russian propaganda without any basis,” Cervinsky said in a written statement to The Washington Post and Der Spiegel magazine, which jointly investigated his role.

Ukrainian government officials did not respond to a list of questions about Chervinsky’s involvement.

Chervinsky’s role illustrates the complex dynamics and internal rivalries of Kiev’s wartime government, where Ukraine’s secret services and military establishment are often at odds with its political leadership.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Chervinsky has served in a Ukrainian special operations forces unit and focused on resistance activity in Russian-controlled areas of the country, people familiar with his duties said. He informed Major General Viktor Hanushak, an experienced and respected officer, who communicated directly with Zalozny.

Chervinsky was well suited to help carry out a secret mission aimed at covering up Ukraine’s responsibility. He has served in senior positions in the country’s military intelligence service as well as in Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, and is professionally and personally close to key military and security leaders. He has also assisted in conducting other covert operations.

In 2020, Chervinsky oversaw a complex scheme to lure fighters from the Russian mercenary group Wagner Group to Belarus, with the aim of arresting them and bringing them to Ukraine to face charges. In his statements to The Washington Post and Der Spiegel, Cervinsky said he also “planned and carried out” operations to kill pro-Russian separatist leaders in Ukraine and “kidnap a witness” who could confirm the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 from Russia over the east of the country. Donbass in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

Chervinsky is being held in a Kiev prison on charges of abuse of power in a plot to lure a Russian pilot to defect to Ukraine in July 2022. Authorities allege that Chervinsky, who was arrested in April, acted without authorization and that the operation gave permission to kill. Coordinates of a Ukrainian airport, which led to a Russian missile attack that killed one soldier and injured 17 others.

Hanushak, who no longer serves in the Special Operations Forces, has said publicly that the operation was approved by the armed forces and declined to comment for this article.

Chervinsky said that he was not responsible for the Russian attack, and that in trying to convince the pilot to travel to Ukraine and hand over his plane, he was acting on orders. He described his arrest and trial as political retaliation for his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government. Chervinsky has publicly stated that he suspects Andriy Yermak, one of Zelensky’s closest advisers, of spying for Russia. He also accused Zelensky’s government of failing to adequately prepare the country for the Russian invasion.

“The process of recruiting the Russian pilot involved units of the State Security Service, the Air Force, and special operations forces,” Cervinsky said in his written statement to the Washington Post and Der Spiegel. “The operation was approved by Commander Valery Zaluzny.”

Czerwinsky’s involvement in the Nord Stream bombing contradicts Zelensky’s public denials of his country’s involvement. “I am the president and I give orders accordingly,” Zelensky said at a press conference in June, responding to a Washington Post report that the CIA knew about Ukraine’s plans before the attack.

“Ukraine has done nothing like this. I will never act this way,” Zelensky said.

But people familiar with the operation said Operation Nord Stream was designed to keep Zelensky out of the loop.

“Everyone involved in planning and implementation reports directly to [αρχηγό της άμυνας] Zaluzny, so Zelensky did not know about it,” according to intelligence reports cited by the CIA.

Other covert Ukrainian operations targeting Russian forces, including Operation Russian Plane, were also designed to bypass the Ukrainian president, people familiar with its plans said.

At times, US officials have particularly criticized Ukrainian intelligence and military officials for carrying out attacks aimed at provoking Russia into escalating its war against Ukraine. But Washington’s concerns did not always deter Kiev.

“It is known that the attack was planned by an agent of the Ukrainian Security Service at the request of the Ukrainian special services,” Russia’s TASS news agency reported.

Some who described Chervinsky’s involvement in the Nord Stream attack defended the veteran intelligence officer as acting in Ukraine’s best interests. They claimed that bombing the pipelines helped prevent Russia from filling its coffers from gas sales and deprived Putin of a way to use the flow of gas to achieve political influence.

Chervinsky’s supporters came to court to defend him, some wearing a T-shirt with his face and the hashtag #FREECHERVINSKY. For some, it is a symbol of the Ukrainian military’s willingness to make difficult choices in the fight for the country’s survival.

“I have dedicated my whole life to defending Ukraine,” Chervinsky said in his statement. He described the charges against him related to the Russian plane operation as “baseless and far-fetched, and I will certainly prove them in court.”

picture: Colonel Roman Chervinsky appears in a glass room during a hearing at the Shevchenko District Court, in Kiev, Ukraine, on October 10, 2023.

With information from a joint investigation published by The Washington Post and Der Spiegel