A 26-year-old Russian boy recently crossed the border to the Norwayquestions political asylum in Oslo. However, this is not a deserter from the recruitment program that Moscow started with the partial mobilization proclaimed in September.
Andrei Medvedev, so he is called, instead fought for Wagner in the Ukraine. The private company founded by Prigozhin which supports the Kremlin in its war effort in the Donbass. So, according to his testimony to the Norwegian authorities, the boy was one of the contractors operating in Ukraine.
“I am ready to testify about war crimes”
As reported by Ukrinform, Medvedev is a former soldier in the Russian army. It is known that he was in custody between 2017 and 2018. Driven by ideals and salary prospects, he then joined the ranks of Wagner in July 2022.
Committed, as he explained to the Oslo authorities, in the region LuganskWeeks after his arrival, he was appointed commander of an assault squadron. The original contract ran for four months, then Medvedev decided to desert just before the extension.
He left the front, reached Russian territory and turned here gulagu, a human rights organization. It would have been the association that provided Medvedev with support and money for the trip to Norway. This was confirmed to the BBC by the founder of Gulagu himself, Vladimir Osechkin.
The reason for his escape can be found in the crime of the war that Medvedev would have experienced in Ukraine. After crossing the border into Norway’s Finmark region, whose authorities confirmed the Russian boy’s detention for illegally crossing the border, former combatant Wagner applied for asylum.
The Oslo authorities have appointed a lawyer who was interviewed by the BBC. Brynjulf Risnes, the lawyer said his client fled Ukraine because of what he saw during the fighting. Among the crimes listed are several human rights violations and the killing of deserters by Wagner’s inside staff.
“In short – explained the lawyer – my client felt cheated and wanted to leave Ukraine”. Now he would be ready to testify about what he saw and observed during the fighting in Donbass.
Prigozhin’s answer
The BBC itself reported some statements by Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner, who commented on what the defector said. “Putin’s cook” (as he is often called) claimed that Medvedev was actually a Norwegian mercenary from a Nordic combat unit. And who distinguished himself in Ukraine for “mistreatment of prisoners”.
In short, Prigozhin denied the reconstruction of the boy detained in Norway, calling him a “very dangerous subject”. So an exchange of allegations, in the background the first possible case of desertion by the Kremlin-affiliated Russian company.