Arrest the former commander of the Wagner who had asked

Arrest the former commander of the Wagner who had asked for asylum in Norway

Andrei Medvedev, a defector from the Russian paramilitary group, said he was willing to cooperate and expose his former comrades’ war crimes: According to the lawyers, there is no reason to believe he could be extradited to Russia

Andrei Medvedev, a former commander of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group who fled to Norway, was arrested under that country’s immigration law.

Medvedev, 26, illegally crossed the Norwegian border about 10 days ago and said he was ready to work with investigators to solve the crimes committed by his former comrades.

The exact reasons for the arrest were not given, but his lawyer said that due to breaches of the security rules surrounding him: There are of course many security measures in place and he finds it difficult to comply with them. Nothing charged. His lawyer also said there was no chance his client would be extradited to Russia.

Medvedev had applied for asylum in the Scandinavian country, but said he was arrested in a hotel and taken to a detention center.

As recounted here, Medvedev is the first soldier in the Wagner group deployed in Ukraine that we know deserted.

The British newspaper Guardian spoke to Medvedev before he left his country. I fought at Bakhmut and commanded the 1st Squad of the 4th Platoon of the 7th Assault Battalion, Medvedev declared on December 20, adding that he had been hiding in Russia since leaving his Wagner unit in July.

Medvedev also said that his unit consisted mainly of ex-convicts who were sent to the front as cannon fodder. Prisoners are used as cannon fodder. I was assigned to a group of inmates. On my platoon, only 3 men out of 30 survived.

Medvedev had also said that he knew of at least 10 killings of disobedient Wagner soldiers and that he had personally witnessed some executions. The commanders took them to a shooting range and were shot in front of everyone.

The former mercenary said he fought for Wagner in Ukraine for four months before defecting in November after the paramilitary organization led by Yevgeny Prigozhin allegedly extended his contract against his will.

Human rights group Gulagu.net, which has been in contact with Medvedev since his trip to Norway, today recorded and published a phone interview with Medvedev, in which the militant details his dramatic escape across the snow-capped Arctic Circle border from Russia to Norway after they had crossed barbed wire fences and managed to escape a border patrol who had unleashed the dogs. When I was on the ice at the border, I heard dogs barking, turned around, saw people with flashlights running in my direction about 150 meters away, Medvedev explains in a video. I heard two shots, bullets flew.

Many questions remain about Medvedev’s background and the circumstances of his escape, with some experts saying he could not have crossed the heavily guarded border without some sort of outside help.

Medvedev is an orphan who enlisted in the Russian army and spent time in prison before joining Wagner last July. The four-month contract was later extended without his consent. I decided to run away and come here, firstly to save my life and secondly to tell people and the world the truth,” he said in an interview with Gulagu.net, specifying that he also to punish founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Putin, for killing victims on his orders in Ukraine.

January 23, 2023 (change January 23, 2023 | 16:33)