A former commander in Russia’s non-public army firm, Wagner, has fled to Norway and is in search of asylum after crossing that nation’s arctic border, in keeping with Norwegian police and a Russian activist.
Andrei Medvedev, in an interview with a Russian activist who helps individuals search asylum overseas, stated that he feared for his life after refusing to resume his service with Wagner.
Medvedev stated that after finishing his contract and refusing to serve one other, he was afraid of being executed in the identical means asYevgeny Nuzhin — a defector from Wagner who was killed on digital camera with a sledgehammer.
“We had been simply thrown to battle like cannon fodder,” Medvedev informed Vladimir Osechkin, head of Gulagu.web, a human rights advocacy group, in a dialog printed on YouTube.
A spokesperson for Norway’s Police Safety Service confirmed to CNN on Monday that Medvedev was in Norway and in search of asylum.
“That is up to now an area police investigation,” Eirik Veum informed CNN. “However the Safety Service, we’re knowledgeable, and comply with the investigation in fact.”
In a telephone name from Norway with Osechkin, which was printed on-line, Medvedev stated that he crossed the border close to the Russian city of Nikel. That aligns with the account of the Finnmark Police District, which with out naming Medvedev stated that it made an “undramatic” arrest of a person in Pasvik on the Norwegian aspect of the border at 1:58 a.m. on Jan. 13.
In his personal account, Medvedev stated that he crossed the border and approached the primary home he might discover. “It was a miracle I managed to get right here,” he informed Osechkin within the telephone name.
Medvedev had beforehand tried to cross into Finland twice and failed, Osechkin informed CNN Monday. The pinnacle of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, confirmed on Telegram on Monday that Medvedev had served in his firm, and stated that he “ought to have been prosecuted for trying to mistreat prisoners.”
In a December dialog with Osechkin, which was printed on YouTube, Medvedev denied that he had dedicated any crimes in Ukraine.
“I signed a contract with the group on the sixth of July 2022. I had been appointed commander of the primary squad of the 4th platoon of the seventh assault detachment,” he recalled. “When the prisoners began arriving, the scenario in Wagner actually modified. They stopped treating us like people.”
He claimed that prisoners had been “shot useless for refusing to battle, or betrayal.”
“I’m afraid for my life,” Medvedev stated in December. “I didn’t commit any crime. I’ve refused to take part in maneuvers of Yevgeny Prigozhin.”
Osechkin informed CNN that he started serving to Medvedev after being approached by a good friend on the finish of November.
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