CNN
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a former commander in Russia wagner According to Norwegian police and a Russian activist, the private military company has fled Norway and is seeking asylum after crossing that country’s Arctic border.
In an interview with Andrei Medvedev, a Russian activist who helps people seek asylum abroad, said he feared for his life after Wagner refused to renew his service.
Medvedev said that after fulfilling his contract, and refusing to serve another, he was afraid of being executed in a similar manner to Yevgeny Nuzin – a Wagner defector who was killed on camera with a hammer.
“We were thrown to fight like cannon fodder,” he told Vladimir Osechkin, head of the human rights advocacy group Gulagu.net, in a conversation published on YouTube.
A spokeswoman for Norway’s Police Security Service confirmed to CNN on Monday that Medvedev was in Norway seeking asylum.
“This is a local police investigation as of now,” Eric Wem told CNN. “But the Security Service, we have been informed, will certainly follow up with the investigation.”
mercenary group, led by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, has emerged as a major player In Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – there has been much fighting in the small eastern town of solder,
The group is often described as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s off-the-book troops. It has expanded its footprint globally since its creation in 2014, and has been accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine.
Medvedev said he crossed the border near the Russian city of Nickel in a phone call from Norway with Osechkin that was published online.
The account aligns with that of the Finnmark Police District, which, without naming Medvedev, said it made an “immoral” arrest of a man in Pasvik, on the Norwegian border, at 1.58am on Friday, 13 January.
In his own account, Medvedev said that he crossed the border and went to the first house he found.
“I explained my situation to a local woman in broken English and asked for help,” he told Osechkin in the phone call. “When I was on the road, the border force and the police approached me. I was taken to a department where I was interrogated and charged with illegal crossing. I explained everything to him and told him why I did it.”
“It was a miracle that I managed to get here,” he said.
Osechkin told CNN on Monday that Medvedev had tried and failed to enter Finland twice before.
Wagner’s chief Prigozhin confirmed in a telegram on Monday that Medvedev had served in his company and said he “should have been prosecuted for attempting to mistreat prisoners.”
In a December conversation with Osechkin, which was published on YouTube, Medvedev denied he had committed any crimes in Ukraine.
“I signed a contract with the group on 6 July 2022. I was appointed commander of the 1st squad of the 4th platoon of the 7th assault detachment,” he recalled. “When the prisoners started coming in, the situation really changed in Wagner. They stopped treating us like human beings. We were thrown to fight like cannon fodder.
“Every week they sent more prisoners to us. We have lost many men. Casualties were high. We will only lose 15 to 20 men in our platoon. As far as I know, most of them were buried in LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] and declared missing. If you are declared missing, no insurance payment is made to the relatives.”
He claimed that the prisoners were shot “for refusing to fight, or for treachery.”
“I fear for my life,” he said in December. “I have not committed any crime. I have refused to participate in Yevgeny Prigozhin’s maneuvers.”
Osechkin told CNN on Monday that he began helping Medvedev after he was contacted by a friend in late November.
Prigozhin explained, he had ordered all contracts to be automatically renewed from November. When Medvedev refused to renew, he was beaten, Osechkin claimed.
“Andrei decided to leave Wagner,” Osechkin told CNN. “Once that happened, he became wanted by the security services of Wagner and the Russian special services. His life was in danger.”
“He was afraid that he would be killed – like Yevgeny Nuzhin – with a hammer. We, as human rights defenders, decided to help him and protect his life.”
Osechkin said he helped Medvedev by providing him with groceries, clothing and a telephone.
“We are not trying to justify his actions in relation to his involvement in the Wagner Group. But it should be understood that he made the decision to flee the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization that kills both Russians and Ukrainians. .