Фото: unsplash.com
A Ukrainian citizen suspected of involvement in the Nord Stream explosions and detained in Croatia yesterday at Germany’s request may have been in the country to film a movie about the 2022 sabotage operation. The German portal LTO reports.
German prosecutors said yesterday that a Ukrainian citizen, a diver who took part in placing explosives on the pipelines, had been detained in Croatia. In the prosecutors’ statement, he was identified as Vladimir Z. According to media reports, this is Volodymyr Zhuravlev, a diving instructor who was also detained in Poland last year, although a Polish court refused his extradition.
According to LTO, the man may have been arrested while filming “Snake Island” starring Sean Penn and Adrien Brody, a movie inspired by events surrounding the Nord Stream explosions. It was previously reported that the movie, directed by Doug Liman, focuses on a secret group of Ukrainian divers who embark on a dangerous underwater mission amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Filming initially took place in Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, but later moved to the coast, apparently for underwater scenes that were also filmed in Pula, where the Ukrainian citizen was detained.
LTO does not say what the detainee may have been doing during the filming and provides no direct evidence of his participation in it.
It should be noted that Volodymyr Zhuravlev’s lawyer, who represented him in Poland, denied to PAP a rumor that the Ukrainian had traveled to Croatia on holiday.
“I do not know the reasons why he went there, but I assume they were substantial and important,” he said.