Last year, Russian men who avoided going to the war in Ukraine became asylum seekers in Finland, at most about a hundred people, estimates Lieutenant Colonel Mikko Lehmus of the Border Guard.
It is known that no Russian soldiers or persons in military service have come to Finland as asylum seekers, says Lt. Col. Mikko Lehmuswho works as the head of the situation and risk management center at the headquarters of the Border Guard.
More than 200 people came to Finland from Russia last year and applied for asylum here. According to Lehmus’ estimate, no more than half of them, or about a hundred, have submitted their asylum application as the basis of avoiding military service, and who therefore avoid going to the war in Ukraine to join the Russian armed forces.
It is known that there are no Russian soldiers or those in military service among the asylum seekers.
– The fact that the asylum seeker has been found to be a soldier in service, there are significantly fewer such cases. I remember the year 2001, when a Russian conscript in Vainikkala defected to Finland and also used a firearm in Finnish territory. But more recent, serious cases do not come to mind, says Lehmus.
Last week, a man who came to Norway illegally and applied for asylum claims he was a mercenary in the Russian private army and fighting in Ukraine with Russian forces. Apparently the man’s name is Andrei Medvedev. According to Norwegian media, he is a 26-year-old Russian. He is seeking political asylum in Norway and says he is ready to testify against the leader of the Wagner mercenary army Yevgeny Prigozhin against war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.
In the Russian media, Prigozhin has confirmed that Andrej Medvedev fought in Wagner’s army. Prigozhin claims in Russian In the Kommersant newspaper (you will switch to another service), that Andrej Medvedev was himself very dangerous, wanted, guilty of torture or brutal treatment of prisoners of war and fought in Wagner’s “Norwegian battalion”, because according to Prigozhin, Medvedev is a citizen of Norway. cannot confirm or certify this information.
Shots at the border cannot be confirmed, but cannot be ruled out either
Andrej Medvedev claims the Russian human rights organization Gulagu.net’s (you switch to another service) in the interview, that the Russian border authorities would have fired two shots at him on the Russian side, when he was fleeing on foot on the terrain towards Norway. The Finnish border authorities cannot confirm this, and there has been no information from the Norwegian border authorities about such an event.
– As I understand it, it was told by the person himself, that is, I cannot confirm it, and we have not received such information from Norway. But I also can’t rule out that this could have happened, Lieutenant Colonel Mikko Lehmus from the Border Guard’s headquarters says by phone.
The Norwegian authorities are currently investigating the matter. The Finnish Border Guard and the Lapland Border Guard cooperate closely with the Norwegian border authorities and Finnmark colleagues, also in this matter if necessary.
– The relations are uncomplicated and they are based on regular meetings and the fact that, depending on the situation, we can keep in touch with the Norwegian border authorities, Lieutenant Colonel Lehmus states.