A German indictment in the Nord Stream sabotage case states that Danish authorities refused to help German federal police carry out investigations on Bornholm and Christiansø, citing a possible threat to the security of the state.
The 108-page indictment is dated June 26 and is not publicly available. DR reports that it has obtained a copy of the document. According to the indictment, Danish authorities said no to German requests for investigative assistance, while Sweden and Poland agreed to help.
The Danish refusal came from the Copenhagen Public Prosecutor and is dated February 14, 2024, per the indictment. German investigators had asked for routine questioning of harbor masters and pleasure boaters in small ports in northern Germany, on Bornholm and Christiansø, in southern Sweden and in northern Poland. The aim was to reconstruct the sailing route of the yacht Andromeda in September 2022.
Investigators searched the 15-meter yacht on Rügen in January 2023. In the cabin and on the steps to the deck they found traces of the military explosives hexogen and oktogen. The same explosives were found on the ruptured pipelines on the floor of the Baltic Sea.
The indictment ties the yacht to a group of Ukrainian special forces soldiers and deep-sea divers. German prosecutors write that Danish authorities declined to investigate on Bornholm and Christiansø because of a possible threat to the welfare of the state.
Two experts told DR the decision stands out. Birgit Feldtmann, a professor of law at Aalborg University, said the request concerned relatively uncomplicated, routine investigative steps, and that Danish and German cooperation in criminal matters generally works well. She also noted that Denmark is legally entitled to reject such a request, including by pointing to Danish interests.
Rasmus Brun Pedersen, an associate professor of political science at Aarhus University, made a similar assessment. He said it seems odd that Denmark showed little willingness to assist, given how serious the actions were in Denmark’s immediate neighborhood.
The pipelines were blown up on September 26, 2022, an event that brought the war in Ukraine closer to Denmark. PET and Copenhagen Police set up a joint investigation group in October 2022. In February 2024 they announced that the Danish investigation was being closed, saying there was not the necessary basis to pursue a criminal case in Denmark.
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That closure was reported at the time by Bloomberg, which noted that the authorities concluded there had been deliberate sabotage of the gas pipelines. TV2 reported the same decision on February 26, 2024.
The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on July 2, 2026 that it filed an indictment on June 30 against a Ukrainian national identified as Serhii K. The office told DR it does not comment on cases involving mutual international legal cooperation.
DR asked the Copenhagen Public Prosecutor to confirm the information in the indictment and requested access to the reply sent to German police. The prosecutor wrote that it had not been possible to identify such a document and otherwise had no comment. The Ministry of Justice declined to answer DR’s questions.
