Norwegian police announced on Wednesday that they would not detain Andriy Medvedev, the former Wagner mercenary commander who crossed the country illegally, instead ordering him to remain in an undisclosed location for security reasons, Reuters reported.
Norwegian police announced on Monday that Medvedev was arrested and held at the Trandum immigration center near Oslo after a “misunderstanding” about the measures taken to ensure his safety.
“Medvedev was released from Trandum by the immigration unit of the police under a residence order,” Norwegian police said in a statement provided to Reuters.
Brynjulf Risnes, the Norwegian lawyer for former mercenary commander Wagner, could not be reached for comment, but said on Monday that the likelihood of his client being deported to Russia was “zero”.
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.
Andriy Medvedev, the former commander of the “Wagner” PKV, fled from #Russia to #Norway and asked for political asylum, Gulagu reports. clean.
He is ready to testify against Prigozhin and talk about the extrajudicial executions he witnessed. pic.twitter.com/iHPyGbMJ5z
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 15, 2023
The former commander of the Wagnerites says he wants to cooperate with the authorities
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 border without help, as it is strictly guarded.
However, he reported that under the bullets of Russian guards who followed him with dogs, he secretly crossed the border on foot on the Pasvik, the now-frozen river that marks the Russian-Norwegian border.
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.
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Source: Hot News
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