The ex-commander of the PMC “Wagner” fled to Norway and asked for political asylum — the country confirmed this

The Norwegian authorities have confirmed that the Russian Andriy Medvedev, who is a former commander from the PMC "Wagner", illegally crossed the border and asked for asylum there.

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) confirmed this information to the Associated Press agency.

Medvedevʼs case was transferred to the Norwegian immigration police, and the Russian was transferred to Oslo, where he was placed in a center for violators of migration legislation. Norwegian police have so far declined to comment on the case.

According to the Norwegian news agency NTB, Medvedev has been in hiding since the end of the four-month contract he signed on July 6, 2022.

The Russian publication "Meduza" writes that Medvedev was the commander of the unit, which included Yevhen Nuzhin, a "Wagner" mercenary, whose execution with a sledgehammer was recorded on a video that appeared online in November.

The founder of the Gulagu.net project Volodymyr Osyechkin informed that Medvedev crossed the border with Norway in the area of Nikel, Murmansk region.

This is the first time since the beginning of the invasion from Russia to Europe that the former commander of one of the units of the essentially terrorist group "Wagner" managed to escape. At the same time, he agreed to testify and expose the founder of the Communist Party of Ukraine Yevgeniy Prigozhyn.

According to Osechkin, Medvedev witnessed many executions and extrajudicial killings by Prigozhynʼs services against people who refused to go to war against Ukraine.

After Medvedev left "Wagner", Prigozhyn himself and his security service tried to detain him. Medvedev feared that he might be executed.

At the beginning of July 2022, Medvedev signed a four-month contract with the PMC "Wagner". He was sent to Salsk, and from there to Luhansk region, where he was appointed to the post of commander of the First Department of the Fourth Platoon of the Seventh Mercenary Assault Squad. According to Medvedev, he participated in the battles near Bakhmut.

In mid-December, a video was circulated on social networks in which a person who introduced himself as the deserter Andriy Medvedev talked about the abuse of soldiers in the PMC. He urged Prigozhyn to investigate these incidents, but instead he himself began to be persecuted.

• In November, EU MPs proposed to recognize the PMC "Wagner" as a terrorist organization. A corresponding draft law is also being considered in the USA.