None of the Nord Stream suspects have spoken publicly and no-one admits any role in the explosions.
But I have talked to some of the Ukrainians caught up in the case, and people close to them.
“Anyone who admits involvement in this mission, they’re immediately a target for Russia,” one source explained. “Whoever did it can never confirm that.”
Nord Stream was a major investment and worth big money to Moscow in fuel sales. But it also made Germany and others dependent, giving Russia immense leverage over Europe.
That is why Ukraine, the US and Poland in particular all loathed it.
Another source I spoke to was “eaten alive by anxiety” over the investigation and baffled that Germany, a close ally of Ukraine, was even pursuing prosecution.
“Many Ukrainians believe that these pipelines, they helped Russia to fight so blowing them up was a good thing for our country,” they pointed out.
The German prosecutor’s office told me the justice system was outside of any politics. Sabotage is an offence against Germany’s constitution.
Equally frustrating for the Ukrainians I met was their own government’s silence.
“At the very minimum, he’s a military man, so if there are any questions, they should be addressed to the state, not to him,” a close contact of Serhii K complained.
Ahead of his extradition to Germany, his lawyer here in Italy told me his client had felt “abandoned”.