Former Wagner Commander Flees To Norway And Seeks Asylum

A former commander in Russia’s Wagner non-public navy business enterprise has fled to Norway and is looking for asylum after crossing that country’s arctic border, in line with Norwegian police and a Russian activist.

Andrei Medvedev, in an interview with a Russian activist who allows humans searching for asylum abroad, stated that he feared for his existence after refusing to resume his provider with Wagner.

Medvedev stated that once finishing his agreement, and refusing to serve another, he become terrified of being done withinside the equal way of Yevgeny Nuzhin – a defector from Wagner who become killed on digital digicam with a sledgehammer.

“We had been simply thrown to combat like cannon fodder,” he advised Vladimir Osechkin, head of Gulagu.net, a human rights advocacy institution, in a communique posted on YouTube.

A spokesperson for Norway’s Police Security Service showed to CNN Monday that Medvedev become in Norway and looking for asylum.

“This is up to now a neighborhood police research,” Eirik Veum advised CNN. “But the Security Service, we’re informed, and comply with the research of course.”

The mercenary institution, headed via way of means of Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, has emerged as a key participant in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – lately doing a great deal of the combating withinside the small jap metropolis of Soledar.

The institution is frequently defined as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s off-the-books troops. It has multiplied its footprint globally because its introduction in 2014, and has been accused of conflict crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine.

Medvedev stated that he crossed the border close to the Russian metropolis of Nikel, in a telecellsmartphone name from Norway with Osechkin, which become posted online.

The account aligns with that of the Finnmark Police District, who with out naming Medvedev, stated that it made an “undramatic” arrest of a person in Pasvik at the Norwegian facet of the border at 1.fifty eight a.m. on Friday, January 13.

In his very own account, Medvedev stated that he crossed the border and approached the primary residence he ought to find.

“I advised a neighborhood lady in damaged English approximately my state of affairs and requested for assist,” he advised Osechkin withinside the telecellsmartphone name. “While I become at the road, I become approached via way of means of the border pressure and police. I become taken to a department, wherein I become wondered and charged with unlawful crossing. I defined to them the whole lot and advised them why I did it.”

“It become a miracle I controlled to get here,” he stated.

The head of Wagner, Prigozhin, showed on Telegram Monday that Medvedev had served in his business enterprise, and stated that he “must had been prosecuted for trying to mistreat prisoners.”

‘Afraid for my existence’

In a December communique with Osechkin, which become posted on YouTube, Medvedev denied that he had devoted any crimes in Ukraine.

“I signed a agreement with the institution at the sixth of July 2022. I were appointed commander of the primary squad of the 4th platoon of the seventh attack detachment,” he recalled. “When the prisoners commenced arriving, the state of affairs in Wagner genuinely changed. They stopped treating us like humans. We had been simply thrown to combat like cannon fodder.”

“Every week they despatched greater prisoners to us. We misplaced quite a few guys. Casualties had been high. We could lose 15 to twenty guys simply in our platoon. As some distance as I know, a majority of them had been buried in LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] and declared missing. If you’re declared missing, there may be no coverage pay-out to the relatives.”

He claimed that prisoners had been “shot lifeless for refusing to combat, or betrayal.”

“I am afraid for my existence,” he stated in December. “I did now no longer dedicate any crime. I actually have refused to take part in maneuvers of Yevgeny Prigozhin.”

Osechkin advised CNN Monday that he commenced supporting Medvedev after being approached via way of means of a chum on the give up of November.

Prigozhin, he defined, had ordered all contracts to be robotically renewed beginning in November. When Medvedev refused to resume, he become beaten, Osechkin claimed.

“Andrei determined to go away Wagner,” Osechkin advised CNN. “Once this happened, he have become desired via way of means of safety offerings of Wagner and Russian unique offerings. There become a chance to his existence.”

“He become afraid he may be done withinside the equal way as Yevgeny Nuzhin – with a sledgehammer. We, as human-rights defenders, determined to assist him and defend his existence.”

Osechkin stated that he helped Medvedev with groceries, clothes, and a telephone.

“We aren’t seeking to justify his moves on the subject of his participation in Wagner Group. But it must be understood that he determined to escape Wagner Group as terrorist company which kills each Russians and Ukrainians.”