Stream

Former Ukrainian officer Serhii Kuznietsov faces charges in Germany of collusion to cause an explosion, sabotage and destruction of infrastructure.

Italy’s top court has approved the extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Europe in 2022.

The suspect, Serhii Kuznietsov, 49, has denied being part of a cell of saboteurs accused of placing explosives on the underwater pipelines in the Baltic Sea, severing much of Russia’s gas transfers to Europe and prompting supply shortages on the continent.

After Italy originally blocked Kuznietsov’s extradition last month over an issue with a German arrest warrant, Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation approved the transfer on Wednesday.

Kuznietsov “will therefore be surrendered to Germany within the next few days”, his lawyer Nicola Canestrini said.

The suspect, a former officer in the Ukrainian military, has denied any role in the attack and has fought attempts to transfer him to Germany since he was detained on a European arrest warrant in the Italian town of Rimini, where he was vacationing with his family, in August.

“However great the disappointment, I remain confident in an acquittal after the full trial in Germany,” Canestrini said in a statement.

Last month, a court in Poland ruled against handing over another Ukrainian suspect wanted by Germany in connection with the pipeline explosions and ordered his immediate release from detention.

Kuznietsov faces charges in Germany of collusion to cause an explosion, sabotage and destruction of important structures.

German prosecutors said he used forged identity documents to charter a yacht that departed from the German city of Rostock to carry out the attack near the Danish island of Bornholm on September 26, 2022.

According to extradition documents, prosecutors said Kuznietsov organised and carried out the detonation of at least four bombs containing 14kg to 27kg (31lb to 62lb) of explosives at a depth of 70 to 80 metres (230ft to 263ft).

The explosions damaged both the Nord Stream 1 and the Nord Stream 2 pipelines so severely that no gas could be transported through them. In total, four ruptures were discovered in the pipelines after the attack.

Kuznietsov says he was a member of the Ukrainian armed forces and in Ukraine at the time of the incident, a claim his defence team has said would give him “functional immunity” under international law.

Earlier this month, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sent a letter to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressing concern about Kuznietsov’s extradition.

“The destruction of the pipelines dealt a significant blow to Russia’s war machine in its ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine,” the MEPs wrote.

“From the standpoint of international law, actions undertaken in defence against such aggression, including the neutralisation of the enemy’s military infrastructure, fall within the lawful conduct of a just war,” they wrote.

“We, therefore, urge the Italian government to suspend any steps toward extradition until the guarantees of functional immunity and state responsibility are thoroughly and independently assessed,” they added.

Kuznietsov, who faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty by a German court, has been held in a high security jail in Italy since his arrest and at one point staged a hunger strike to protest against his prison conditions.

Six other suspects in the case remain at large.

Rapper RBX has sued Spotify, alleging that the Swedish audio company has failed to stop the artificial inflation of music streams for artists like Drake and is hurting the revenue other rights holders receive through the platform.

RBX, whose real name is Eric Dwayne Collins, is seeking a class-action status and damages and restitution from Spotify. RBX, along with other rights holders, receive payment based on how often their music is streamed on Spotify, according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in L.A. on Sunday.

Spotify pays rights holders a percentage of revenue based on the total streams attributed to them compared with total volume of streams for all songs, the lawsuit said.

The Long Beach-based rapper said that rights holders are losing money on Spotify because streams of some artists are being artificially inflated through bots powered by automated software, even though the use of such bots is prohibited on the platform, according to the lawsuit.

For example, the lawsuit notes that over a four-day period in 2024 there were at least 250,000 streams of Drake’s “No Face” song that appeared to originate in Turkey, but “were falsely geomapped through the coordinated use of VPNs to the United Kingdom in attempt to obscure their origins.”

Spotify knew or should have known “with reasonable diligence, that fraudulent activities were occurring on its platform,” states the lawsuit, describing the streamer’s policies to root out fraud as “window dressing.”

Spotify declined to comment on the pending litigation but said it “in no way benefits from the industry-wide challenge of artificial streaming.”

“We heavily invest in always-improving, best-in-class systems to combat it and safeguard artist payouts with strong protections like removing fake streams, withholding royalties, and charging penalties,” Spotify said in a statement.

Last year, a U.S. producer was accused of stealing $10 million from streaming services and Spotify said it was able to limit the theft on its platform to $60,000, touting it as evidence that its systems are working.

The platform is also making efforts to push back against AI-generated music that is made without artists’ permission. In September, Spotify announced it had removed more than 75 million AI-generated “spammy” music tracks from its platform over the last 12 months.

A representative for Drake did not immediately return a request for comment.

RBX is known for his work on Dr. Dre’s 1992 album “The Chronic” and Snoop Dogg’s 1993 album “Doggystyle.” He has multiple solo albums and has collaborated with artists including on Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” and Kris Kross’ “Da Bomb.” RBX is Snoop Dogg’s cousin.

Artificial intelligence continues to change the way that the entertainment industry operates, affecting everything from film and TV production to music. In the music industry, companies have sued AI startups, accusing the businesses of taking copyrighted music to train AI models.

At the same time, some music artists have embraced AI, using the technology to test bold ideas in music videos and in their songs.