Russian soldier Andrej Medvedev fled in January across the border to Norway, where he has sought asylum. He himself has said that he was a commander in the dreaded Wagner force.
Wagner is a private mercenary company that fights for Russian interests worldwide and is accused of numerous war crimes.
– I saw with my own eyes how Wagner’s security guards came out with two who refused to fight. They said they were traitors and cowards and shot them quite openly in front of all of us, says Andrej Medvedev.
In the interview, he gives his explanation for why he signed for the Wagner force. But once on the ground in Ukraine, he realized that the reality of the war was far from the Russian propaganda.
– Everything was to hell, completely to hell. The roads to Bakhmut were littered with the corpses of our soldiers, he says.
There are assessors who believe that Andrej’s story contains doubts and contradictory information.
Watch him recount the dramatic escape in the player above.