A suspected deserter from the Russian mercenary group Wagner has fled across the border to Norway and is seeking asylum there. As his lawyer announced on Monday, 26-year-old Andrei Medvedev fled across the border in northern Norway at the end of last week. A police spokesman confirmed that a man had been arrested on Friday night for illegally crossing the border and had applied for asylum.
The 26-year-old described his dramatic escape to the human rights organization Gulagu.net: “When I was on the ice (at the border), I heard dogs barking and turned around. I saw people with flashlights running in my direction about 150 meters from me.” He heard shots and then two bullets whistling past him.
Medvedev’s lawyer Brynyulf Risnes told AFP that after crossing the border, the young man approached local residents and asked them to call the police. He is now in a “safe place” while his case is being reviewed.
In his own words, Medvedev wanted to “speak to people investigating war crimes about his experiences with the Wagner group.” The 26-year-old stated that he had led a unit of five to ten soldiers in the mercenary force.
Mercenary contract was probably extended without approval
According to Gulagu.net, Medvedev initially signed up for four months in July 2022 and was sent to Ukraine for combat. In the mercenary unit, he witnessed the executions and punishments of mercenaries who refused to fight or wanted to leave the unit.
According to his lawyer, Medvedev’s contract with Wagner was renewed without his consent. “He realized there was no easy way out, so he decided to run,” Risnes said.
Medvedev is said to have belonged to the same Wagner unit as Yevgeny Nushin, writes the independent Russian news site Meduza. The Wagner desserteur was executed with a sledgehammer last year.
The fighters of the Wagner group are currently engaged in the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The force also recruits its fighters from Russian prisons. Before the Ukraine war, Wagner mercenaries had already been sighted in Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic. (Tsp with AFP)
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