A former commander of the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner has fled to Norway. He applied for asylum there – and wants to report on the brutal methods of the Wagner group.
Under cover of the darkness of night and in the freezing cold, a man flees from Russia to Norway. He is said to be a former commander of the brutal and notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner – and he has information about the group that could solve war crimes.
On Friday night, a person was arrested by the Norwegian border police in Pasvik, south of the city of Kirkenes. This is how the police of the province of Finnmark writes in a press release.
The man has applied for asylum, Finnmark Police District Chief of Staff Tarjei Sirma-Tellefsen said. The fugitive is said to have visited a private house in the border area and asked for help. His arrest was “undramatic”.
Tarjei Sirma-Tellefsen, Finnmark Police District Chief of Staff
© Terje Bendiksby / Imago Images
Wagner commander flees to Norway. His name: Andrei Medvedev
“We were also informed by Russian border guards that they had found traces that could indicate an illegal border crossing. A search was then immediately initiated by the border guards and the police,” said Sirma-Tellefsen. “We are now working to confirm the person’s identity and are interviewing the man.”
In the meantime, the identity of the man from Russia has been established: several Norwegian media, including public broadcasting NRK and the newspaper “VG” report that the man is Andrei Medvedev, a former commander of the notorious Wagner Group from Russia. His lawyer Jens Bernhard Herstad confirmed this “VG”. “I can confirm that he arrived in Norway on Friday night.” He is doing well given the circumstances.
The Wagner Group is a private paramilitary organization also known as “Putin’s Shadow Army”. The force is part of a corporate network headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gastro entrepreneur Prigozhin is also known as “Putin’s cook”. The Wagner group is active in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and is fighting in the east of the country. The mercenary force is considered extremely brutal; she is accused of torture and war crimes.
Medvedev’s escape from Russia: searchlights, dogs, gunshots
in one Video, published by the Russian human rights organization Gulagu, describes Medvedev’s escape. He is said to have reached the Russian border town of Nikel with the help of supporters in Murmansk. From there he is said to have climbed over the barbed wire fence in a white bathrobe and walked across the frozen Pasvikelva River. This information has not yet been independently verified.
Medvedev claims he was followed. He saw headlights and heard dogs behind him. Shots are also said to have been fired.
“I turned and saw that people with flashlights were running in my direction at a distance of about 150 meters. I ran along the forest. I heard two shots, bullets hissed past. I broke the phone and threw it into the forest, then I ran on the ice towards the light of the houses. They released the dog, but apparently he was tangled in a wire in a snowdrift somewhere,” he quotes “Barents Observer” from the video of Gulagu.
Statements from residents on the Pasvikelva correspond to his reports. They told NRK that they saw a lot of activity on the Russian side of the border at night. “Snowmobiles, searchlights and plenty of staff.”
Satellite images from Ukraine
The horror from above – this is how it currently looks in Soledar
Medvedev applies for political asylum in Norway
According to gulagu Medvedev left the Wagner troupe after his four-month contract signed in July expired. According to him, this should be extended. Apparently that was a reason to flee.
The defection from Medvedev is sensational. It is the first time since the beginning of the war against Ukraine that a former commander of a Wagner Group unit has fled to Western Europe, Gulagu said. According to the organization, Medvedev approached them in early December 2022 to avoid “extrajudicial reprisals.” In December, he reported in an interview with the independent Russian news site “The Insiders” of executions of Wagner mercenaries who are said to have refused to take part in combat.
Andrei Medvedev is, according to information from the TV station TV2 now in the capital Oslo. Asylum seekers from Russia are usually taken there by plane, writes the Barents Observer.
“He has applied for political asylum in Norway. The asylum procedure is going on in the usual way for him. I don’t want to say anything about the basis of the asylum application,” his lawyer Herstad told the NRK. The lawyer declined to comment on Medvedev’s possible role in Russian warfare.
“I am ready to testify against the Wagner group and Prigozhin”
The Norwegian domestic intelligence agency PST is following the case closely. The PST was briefed shortly after the incident, an intelligence service communications adviser told NRK. “It will be natural for the PST to follow the case to assess whether it falls within our remit.”
Medvedev does not want to remain silent about the deeds of the Wagner group. He wants to unpack about the atrocities of the Wagner group. Gulagu said he was ready to testify about what he experienced before Norwegian authorities and in international criminal proceedings.
“I am ready to testify against the Wagner group and Prigozhin. Of course I am,” he said in an interview with Gulagu.
“He realized very early on that he had enlisted on the wrong terms and that there were things going on in the war that he couldn’t take part in. He wanted to quit and realized that in reality it was impossible. So he didn’t see anyone else option than to flee,” said Brynyulf Risnes, who has taken over as Medvedev’s lawyer, on Sunday “VG”.
“Obviously he’s under investigation”
According to Risnes, Medvedev has information that could be of great importance in documenting war crimes in Ukraine. In his opinion, the authorities in Norway and also the international criminal court in The Hague should have an interest in it.
But that also means that Medvedev will not necessarily get away with it. “It is clear that he is also under investigation as to whether he is telling the truth and whether he may have done something illegal. He himself clearly believes that he did not do this – that he was only following orders and none in connection with the hostilities had contact with civilians,” Risnes said.
Sources: Police Finnmark, “VG”, NRK, “The Barents Observer”, gulaguTV2, “The Insiders”, “Dagbladet”, Reserves Association Germany