“I’m scared. I don’t want to go back to Norway.” Andrey Medvedev, former commander of a Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway, has been arrested by the Nordic country’s police. Contacted by telephone by the Guardian, the 26-year-old confirmed the arrest and said he feared deportation to Russia. His Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, explained that the police arrested Medvedev after a “strong disagreement” with the former mercenary over the accommodation he was allocated. “He was in a safe house on a voluntary basis. If he refuses to stay, they should have let him go or arrested him,” the lawyer said, adding that the young Russian was taken to a temporary detention center. “I will try to talk to the police and obviously we will find a solution”, assured the lawyer.
Medvedev arrived in Norway on January 13, where he applied for asylum. It is the first known case of a Wagner mercenary who fled abroad and he said he was ready to tell everything he knows about the group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The young man said he had witnessed summary executions of other mercenaries who, like him, had fought in Wagner’s ranks in Ukraine.
Source: IL Tempo
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.
