Former commander in Russian mercenary group flees to Norway, seeks asylum

A former commander of Russia's Wagner mercenary group who fought in Ukraine said he has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum in fear for his life after witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the front line.

Andrei Medvedev, who joined the group on July 6, 2022, on a four-month contract, said in a video posted by the Gulagu.net rights group that he had crossed the border into Norway before being detained by Norwegian police.

Medvedev, an orphan who joined the Russian army and served time in prison before joining Wagner, said he had slipped away from the group after witnessing the killing of captured deserters from Wagner.

"I am afraid of dying in agony," Medvedev told Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the Gulagu.net rights group, which said it had helped Medvedev leave Russia after he approached the group in fear for his life.

He said he crossed the border, climbing through barbed-wire fences and evading a border patrol with dogs, and heard guards firing shots as he ran through a forest and over thin and breaking ice into Norway.

Norwegian police said a foreign citizen had been arrested on the night of Thursday to Friday after illegally crossing the Russian-Norwegian border in the Arctic and was seeking asylum.

His Norwegian lawyer said Medvedev was now in the "Oslo area," but did not give details.

"What is important for [Medvedev] is that immigration authorities clarify his status as soon as possible," lawyer Brynjulf Risnes told Reuters.

Medvedev had not yet talked with Norwegian security police and no agreement for an interview had been made, Risnes said.

"I am sure that will be a question at some point," said Risnes, who declined to say where Medvedev was fighting in Ukraine.

"He says he has taken part in battle, which he says were clear battle situations ... and that he has not been in contact with civilians," said Risnes.

Wagner head claims asylum seeker is 'dangerous'

Yevgeny Prigozhin, who founded Wagner, said that Medvedev had worked in a Norwegian unit of Wagner but had "mistreated prisoners."

"Be careful, he's very dangerous," Prigozhin said in a statement released by his spokesperson. Prigozhin did not address the claims of killings or mistreatment of prisoners in the statement.

In interviews with Gulagu, Medvedev said he grew disaffected after his contract was repeatedly extended by Wagner without his consent. He said he had witnessed the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners who were brought to the front by Wagner.

Medvedev said losses were very high after Wagner began sending large numbers of prisoners to the front in the second half of 2022. Wagner's internal security service handed out extreme punishment, Medvedev said.

He said a man who was shown in November being executed with a sledgehammer had been part of his unit.

The Wagner statement did not address Medvedev's accounts of punishment and of battlefield losses, or that his contract was repeatedly extended.

Prigozhin has said his group is an effective fighting force because it had extensive battlefield experience, it is well supplied, has a meritocratic command system in which all can contribute, and "the most severe discipline."