Wagner, former commander of a private Russian military company Has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum after crossing that country’s Arctic border. According to Norwegian police and Russian activists,
Andrei Medvedev, in an interview with a Russian activist who helps people seek asylum abroad, said he feared for his life after refusing to renew his service with Wagner.
Medvedev said that after the contract was concluded and refused to serve others. He was afraid to be executed in the same way as Yevgeny Nusin, a defector from Wagner. Killed on camera with a sledgehammer.
“We are just thrown into battle like cannons,” Medvedev told Vladimir Osekkin, head of human rights group Gulagu.net, in a conversation published on YouTube.
A spokesman for Norwegian police security confirmed to CNN on Monday that Medvedev is in Norway and is seeking asylum.
“This is a local police investigation,” Eirik Veum told CNN, “but we have been notified by security. And definitely follow up on the investigation.
In a phone call from Norway with Osechkin published online Medvedev said he crossed the border near the Russian city of Nigel. In line with the account of the Finnmark Police District, which did not give its name, Medvedev said he had arrested a man in Pasvik on the Norwegian side of the border at 1:58 a.m. on January 13.
on his own account Medvedev said that he crossed the border and approached the first house he met. “It’s a miracle that I was able to come here,” he told Osechkin over the phone.
Medvedev had previously attempted to cross into Finland twice and failed. Ozegin told CNN on Monday, Wagner’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin confirmed via Telegram on Monday that Medvedev works at his company. and said he “should be prosecuted for attempting to mistreat prisoners”
In a December conversation with Osechkin published on YouTube, Medvedev denied that he had committed crimes in Ukraine.
“I signed with the group on July 6, 2022. I was appointed commander of the 1st Squadron of the 4th Platoon of the 7th Assault Company,” he recalls. The situation in Wagner has changed a lot. They stopped treating us like human beings.”
He claimed that the prisoners were “Shot for refusing to fight or betrayal.”
“I’ve been scared for the rest of my life,” Medvedev said in December. “I have not committed any crimes. I refused to participate in Yevgeny Prigozhin’s maneuvers.
Osechkin told CNN he started helping Medvedev after being contacted by a friend in late November.
