Russian Mercenary Commander Seeking Asylum in Norway, Willing to Cooperate

• A previous commander for the infamous Wagner Team fled Russia and is now looking for asylum in Norway.
• Andrey Medvedev remaining Russia fearful for his lifetime soon after leaving the team, his lawyer advised Insider.
• Medvedev intends to cooperate with any war-criminal offense investigations into the group’s actions in Ukraine.

A commander in the notorious Wagner Group, which has been accused of war crimes in Ukraine, is searching for asylum in Norway, and his lawyer stated he’s willing to blow the whistle on the actions of the notorious non-public mercenary military.

The Involved Press was the first to report that Andrey Medvedev fled Russia past week and is now trying to get shelter in Norway, citing affirmation from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration.

Medvedev’s Norwegian attorney, Brynjulf Risnes, verified in a call with Insider on Monday that Medvedev was in the place and seeking asylum.

Risnes explained to Insider that Medvedev enlisted with the Wagner Group final summer. He needed to depart the group at the end of his 4-month deal, which was thanks to expire in November, but feared it would be indefinitely prolonged with no his consent, his law firm reported.

“He saw no other solution but to operate absent,” Risnes extra.

Last 7 days, Medvedev illegally crossed the border into Norway, having been in hiding in Russia for far more than a thirty day period.

Medvedev is now trying to find asylum mainly because he “fears retribution and, essentially, for his lifetime,” his lawyer explained.

According to his laywer, Medvedev has previously spoken to Norwegian immigration authorities and intends to cooperate in any investigations pertaining to attainable war crimes fully commited by the Wagner Team in Ukraine.

He added that Medvedev intends to share “everything he is aware about the way the Wagner Team will work on the inside,” like likely with the Intercontinental Felony Court in The Hague.

The Wagner Team, which is significantly recruiting from Russian prisons, is alleged by a selection of organizations to have dedicated actions in Ukraine that would constitute war crimes.

Ukrainian prosecutors say that Wagner Team mercenaries killed and tortured civilians in the vicinity of Kyiv in April 2022, though the German foreign-intelligence service reported it has proof that the group’s mercenaries massacred civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in March 2022.

Its mercenaries have formerly been accused of raping girls in a maternity ward in the Central African Republic and of deliberately concentrating on civilians in Mali.

The group’s brutal methods aren’t confined to these on the opposite side of the conflict.

In December, Medvedev instructed The Insider, a Latvia-based media outlet that is not affiliated with this publication, that he understood of ten instances in which the Wagner Group experienced executed mercenaries who refused to acquire element in battle.

He included that he was existing at various killings and claimed to have video clip proof of two prisoners staying executed by the team for refusing to struggle in Ukraine.

The Wagner Group has beforehand been deployed in Libya, Syria, and in other locations throughout the environment.