A Wagner soldier who escaped from Russia to northern Norway last week Andrey Medvedev claims to have information and video of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine. Medvedev’s lawyer confirmed to the newspaper For Verdens Gang (you switch to another service) on Sunday evening that he has applied for asylum in Norway.
– He realized very early on that he had enlisted on the wrong grounds and that things happened in the war that he did not want to participate in. He wanted to stop and realized that it was actually impossible. So he saw no other option but to flee, Medvedev’s defense lawyer Brynjulf Risnes said to VG.
Medvedev has told a Russian human rights organization about his time in the Wagner mercenary company gulagu.net (you will switch to another service)-site and independent The Insider (you will switch to another service) on the site. He says that he started in the salary army with a four-month contract on July 6. When the contract period had expired, he was told that it would be extended for another six months and then another eight months, VG says.
Medvedev decided to escape. His lawyer says (you switch to another service), that Medvedev went underground and changed places in Russia several times. Finally, he realized that he must escape from Russia.
Claims to have witnessed executions
Medvedev claimed in a December 16 edition of The Insider in the article (you will switch to another service) that he knew of ten cases in which Wagner executed mercenaries who refused to fight. He said that he himself was present at several executions. According to him, eight of those executed were former prisoners.
Medvedev already said at that time that he was on the run and claimed that the Wagner mercenary army was chasing him. He claimed that he has a video of the execution of two mercenaries in Altshevskiy, Luhansk region, and that if something happened to him, the video would be posted on the Internet. According to him, Wagner’s security service has a separate MED unit that handles executions.
– Their business is to make people disappear. They catch men and kill them either in public or hidden from the public, Medvedev said.
Medvedev claimed to have led a group of about 15 soldiers on combat missions. He says that the group was replenished every week, and since August, the dead soldiers of the group were replaced by former prisoners. According to him, the group belonged to the fourth team.
– We were a suicide team – all criminals and crooks belonged to the fourth team. And in a few days, only three of the team’s 30 men were alive, Medvedev said.
According to some estimates, up to a quarter of Russia’s total strength in Ukraine may be fighters of the mercenary company Wagner.
Accused of illegal border crossing
Medvedev eventually fled the Murmansk region of northern Russia to Norway, where he asked for help from a local resident.
– He did not come to the country through the border station, but traveled across the country. There are obstacles that are supposed to block the passage. That in itself was dramatic, lawyer Brynjulf Risnes says to the public broadcasting company for NRK (you switch to another service). Medvedev has also said that the Russian border guards shot at him.
Norwegian police arrested him on Friday for illegal crossing and charges have been brought against him.
Defense attorney Risnes believes that Medvedev’s information is of interest not only to Norwegian but also to international authorities.
Medvedev has said he is ready to testify about the Wagner mercenary company and its founder and leader Yevgeny Prigozhin against. However, he has been reluctant to talk about his own part in possible war crimes.
– It is clear that he is also being investigated as to whether he is telling the truth and whether he has possibly done something illegal. He himself clearly believes that he has not done that – that he has only carried out orders and has had no contact with civilians in connection with the fighting, Risnes tells VG.
Kripos of the Norwegian police, which is the national unit for combating organized and other serious crime, confirms for NRK (you switch to another service) being aware of the Medvedev case.
– Kripos has national responsibility for investigating war crimes. In connection with the war in Ukraine, we have interviewed several persons who may have testified to war crimes, head of department Tone Lill Solstad says to NRK.
Regarding war crimes possibly committed in Ukraine, Kripos collects information that can be used in international cooperation, says Solstad.