Andriy Medvedev, the former commander of Wagner’s mercenary group who fled to Norway about ten days ago, has been arrested by Norwegian authorities under immigration law, Norwegian police said on Monday, as cited by Reuters and Agerpres.
“This person has been arrested under immigration law and we are considering sending him to an illegal alien camp” in the country, Jon Andreas Johansen, the police officer in charge of immigration, told AFP in an email.
The police did not want to give the exact reasons for his detention or provide any other comments.
At the age of 26, Andriy Medvedev crossed the Russian-Norwegian border on the night of January 12-13 and asked for asylum in the Scandinavian country, saying that he was ready, according to his lawyer, “to talk about his experience in the Wagner group of those who investigate war crimes.” .
The man says he fought in Ukraine wearing Wagner’s uniform for four months before deserting in November when a paramilitary group led by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin allegedly extended his contract against his will.
The former mercenary commander of the “Wagner” PMC would have crossed the border with help
As a potentially valuable witness who would shed light on the paramilitary group’s brutality in Ukraine, he has been under the surveillance of Norwegian authorities since his arrival in the country at an undisclosed location.
According to some experts, Medvedev could not have crossed the heavily guarded border without outside help.
He claimed that he secretly crossed the border on foot on the Pasvik, a now-frozen river that marks the Russian-Norwegian border, under fire from Russian guards who followed him with dogs.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian journalists in December, while still in hiding in Russia, Medvedev said he was shocked by some of the brutality he witnessed in the military group.
Among other things, he told British reporters that he was aware of the execution of at least 10 fighters of the militant group for refusing to obey orders and that he had personally witnessed some of the executions.
“The commanders took them to the shooting range and shot them in front of everyone. Sometimes they shot one at a time, sometimes in pairs,” Andrii Medvedev claims, adding that it “shocked us to the core, it was so hallucinatory.”
The British publication published this interview only after the former mercenary managed to move to Norway.
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Source: Hot News
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