United Nations Former Russian Wagner Group mercenary fled across the Norwegian border in conditions worthy of a war movie and, once safe, said he is willing to shed light on the brutal methods of that paramilitary group in the ukrainian war.
the former commander Andrei Medvedev, 26 years oldHe evaded Russian border guards and smuggled across the frozen Pasvik River last week, which separates Russia from Norway in the Arctic.
The alleged deserter, who He introduces himself as the former head of a section of about ten men from the Wagner GroupHe said he crossed a frozen river that separated Russia from Norway with a Russian patrol in pursuit.
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“I heard a dog barking, I turned around and saw people with flashlights about 150 meters away, running in my direction”he explained. “I heard two shots (…) I ran on the ice with the help of light from the houses for about two kilometers,” she recounted.
Medvedev claims to have fought in Ukraine as head of a section of a dozen Wagner men (including Russian ex-convicts), a group of paid mercenaries working for President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.
Fleeing to Norway, Medvedev was saved from execution. In an interview he said in December that he knew of 10 mercenaries who did not want to return to the front and were executed by Wagner.
The defector had several USB sticks with him on his escape to Norway. He also claimed that he had a video showing two of the mercenaries being killed, and that it would be released if anything bad happened to him.
His Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, stated that his client was “Willing to talk about his experience inside the Wagner group to people investigating war crimes.”
“He is an especially interesting individual as a first-hand witness within the Wagner group (…), including the possible post-war trials on the atrocities committed in Ukraine,” he considers Tor Bukkvoll, a researcher at the Norwegian Defense and Research Institute.
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“What he can say is interesting because we don’t have much testimony from Wagner’s soldier directors, but there are two things to consider,” says Tor Bukkvoll. “First, Wagner’s brutality has been notorious for a long time, even before the conflict in Ukraine, as in Syria, where the group killed prisoners,” said. “And Medvedev seems to have been quite low in the organization so it’s unlikely he’ll make any disclosures about what’s going on at higher levels,” he continues.
“I fought in Bakhmut, commanding the first squad of an assault platoon,” Medvedev told the daily. The Guardian in a series of conversations from Russia, where he went into hiding in July.
“My former employees tried to find me, the Wagner society, Prigozhin and his gang, the FSB [servicio ruso de seguridad]. They launched a criminal search operation through the Russian Interior Ministry,” he said.
“He was under the threat of being kidnapped, of being assassinated (…) even worse, of being executed with a sledgehammer.” [en la cabeza]”he added, referring to a former Wagner detainee and deserter whose execution was recorded and broadcast in November.
The Wagner Group – also active in Libya and Syria – already recruited up to 40,000 inmates from prisons across Russia to bolster its ranks. “Only three men out of 30 in my platoon survived,” said the defecting militiaman.
He recounted that he knew of or witnessed at least 10 executions of his fellow soldiers: “The commanders took them to a field and shot them in front of everyone” because they had disobeyed orders, he testified. “I fear that my destiny will be the same, I fear for my life”confessed.
“I’m afraid of dying in agony”, told Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the human rights group gulagu.netwho said he had helped Medvedev leave Russia after he approached the group in fear for his life.
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The exact relationship between Wagner, created in 2014, and the Russian army is one of the questions of the conflict in Ukraine. Many observers pointed out that there are tensions between the two forces, due to the political ambitions of the paramilitary leader, the controversial Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Prigozhin says his group is an effective fighting force because it has extensive battlefield experience, is well-provisioned, has a meritocratic command system in which everyone can contribute, and “the most severe discipline.”
Wagner was ironic about Medvedev’s defection. “He had to be prosecuted for having attempted to assault prisoners,” said Prigozhin, who is part of Vladimir Putin’s entourage. “Until now he was on the wanted list. Be careful, it is very dangerous,” he added.
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