A former Russian Wagner mercenary who fled to Norway told Reuters that he wants to apologize about the fighting in Ukraine, while he decided to speak out in order to bring those responsible for the atrocities to justice.

Andrei Medvedev, who crossed the Russian-Norwegian border on January 13, says it was eyewitness to murders and abuse Russian prisoners taken by their comrades in arms to Ukraine to fight alongside Yevgeny Prigozhin’s group.

Medvedev said that fled to the arctic borderclimbing over barbed wire, avoiding border patrol dogs and hearing guards firing as he crossed the forest and the frozen river that separates the two countries.

The 26-year-old man is now seeking asylum in Norway.

“Many consider me a fraudster, a criminal, a murderer,” Medvedev said in an interview. “First of all, again and again, again, I would like to apologize and although I don’t know how it will be received, I want to say that I’m sorry. I want to explain that I am not that kind of person. Yes, I served in Wagner. There are moments (in my history) that people don’t like, like the fact that I was drafted, but no one is born smart.”

Looking relaxed and confident, Medvedev said he wanted to talk about his experience of the war so that “the perpetrators would be punished” for their crimes in Ukraine.

“I decided to speak out against this publicly, help punish the perpetrators and I will try to contribute, even if only a little bit.”

Wagner was embroiled in bloody battles of attrition in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

A special report released by Reuters last week found cemetery in south russia with convicts recruited by Wagner to fight in Ukraine.

Kripos, Norway’s police department responsible for investigating war crimes, has begun interrogating Medvedev about his experience in Ukraine. He himself has the status of a witness.

Founder of Wagner Evgeny Prigozhina close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, previously said that Medvedev worked in the Norwegian division of Wagner and “treated prisoners cruelly.”

“Be careful, he is very dangerous,” Prigogine said.

From the orphanage to Wagner

Medvedev was born in the Tomsk region of Siberia. He said he was placed in an orphanage when he was about 12 years old, after his mother died and his father disappeared.

He said he was drafted into the Russian army in 2014 at the age of 18 and served with the 31st Airborne Brigade in Ulyanovsk.

“She was my first business in DonbassMedvedev added, refusing to elaborate.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014 after the overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. Maidan revolution and Russia’s annexation of Crimea, while Moscow-backed separatists in the Donbass, made up of Donetsk and Lugansk, tried to wrest control from Kyiv.

Medvedev said he served several prison terms, including one for robbery, and when he was last released from prison he decided to join the Wagner group in July 2022.

Medvedev said he was not called straight out of prison, but he decided to join because he knew he would still be drafted into the regular Russian armed forces.

He signed a four-month contract with monthly salary of about 250,000 rubles (about 3500 euros). According to him, he crossed the border of Ukraine on July 16 and fought in the Bakhmut region.

“It was a mess. The roads to Artyomovsk were littered with the corpses of our soldiers,” he said, using the Russian toponym Bakhmut. “The losses were heavy… I have seen many friends die“.

In Wagner, Medvedev led the brigade, following orders from the platoon commander and planning combat missions. He said he saw “acts of courage on both sides”.

Medvedev also noted that he saw how two people who did not want to fight were shot in front of the recruits.

“The scariest thing? Understand that there are people who consider themselves to be your compatriots who can come and kill you at any moment or on someone’s orders,” he said. “Your people. That was perhaps the most terrible.”

According to him, Medvedev left Wagner at the end of his four-month contract, although his superiors told him that he should serve longer.

He asked if he was afraid he is executed for refusing to fight, Medvedev said: “Somehow they forgot to instill in me the instinct of self-preservation when I grew up in an orphanage. So not really.”

Source: Reuters.