The key facts

  • An employee of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office told the court about defects on the yacht Andromeda, returned after the charter
  • Defendant Serhii Kuznetsov refused to testify
  • The first hearing in the case took place in Hamburg on October 14

Details about the defects of the yacht Andromeda have become the subject of a court hearing

The yacht Andromeda, which, according to the investigation, saboteurs chartered to blow up the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, was returned to its owners with hull damage and a broken toilet. This was stated at the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg by an employee of the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany, appearing as a witness, reports Gazeta.Ru citing RIA Novosti. According to him, during an inspection of the vessel, employees of the charter company discovered new scratches on the hull as well as a malfunction of the sanitary unit (the head). 'Defects were found on the yacht,' the source quotes the testimony.

Context of the case

On October 14, the first hearing in the case of the pipeline explosions concluded in Hamburg. Prosecutor charged Ukrainian citizen Serhii Kuznetsov with a war crime, stating that he acted on behalf of Ukrainian state authorities. The defendant himself refused to testify. Kuznetsov was detained in Italy in August 2025 and then extradited to Germany, where the prosecutor's office charged him with a war crime, an attack on civilian energy infrastructure, carrying out an explosion, and destruction of structures. The outlet notes that the story is being updated.