Posted on 01/16/2023 6:19:27 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A former commander with the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group has claimed asylum in Norway after deserting from the mercenary outfit.
Andrey Medvedev, 26, crossed the border into Norway last Friday, where he was detained by border guards.
He is currently being held in the Oslo area where he faces charges of illegal entry to Norway, his lawyer Brynjulf Risnes told the BBC.
Mr Risnes said his client left Wagner after witnessing war crimes in Ukraine.
The Norwegian Border Guard confirmed to the BBC that a Russian man had been detained after crossing the country's 198km (123miles) long border with Russia, but said it could not comment further for "reasons of security and privacy".
Tarjei Sirma-Tellefsen, police chief of staff in the Norwegian region of Finnmark, said a man had been detained by a border patrol and said he had applied for asylum.
But the Russian human rights group Gulagu, who helped Mr Medvedev leave Russia, confirmed his identity. His escape is believed to be the first known instance of one of the group's soldiers defecting to the West.
Gulagu's founder Vladimir Osechkin told the BBC that Mr Medvedev had joined the paramilitary group in July 2022 on a four-month contract, but had deserted after witnessing a host of human rights abuses and war crimes while serving in Ukraine.
He said that Mr Medvedev is a former soldier in the Russian army and that he later served time in prison between 2017 and 2018 before joining the Wagner Group.
He was placed in charge of a Wagner division in Ukraine, where the mercenary group supplied him with around 30-40 troops every week, Mr Osechkin said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
After spending two months underground in Russia, he crossed the border into Norway last week.
Mr Risnes said his client had also witnessed a host of war crimes while fighting in Ukraine, including seeing "deserters being executed" by the Wagner Group's internal security service.
"In short he felt betrayed and wanted to leave as soon as possible," Mr Risnes said.
He added that he believed Mr Medvedev had taken some evidence of war crimes with him to Norway and that he intends to share his information with groups investigating war crimes in the coming weeks.
bttt
I recall young men crossing into Canada during war time
RE: I recall young men crossing into Canada during war time
This is somewhat simialar but there’s a difference. The Canada Border Crossers NEVER fought in a war. This Norwegian border crosser Was a former commander with the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group who actually fought in the Ukraine war.
That’s your comparison?
Bizarre.
He’s devolved into a propagandist. Says any shit necessary to prop up Russia.
“He was placed in charge of a Wagner division in Ukraine, where the mercenary group supplied him with around 30-40 troops every week, Mr Osechkin said. “
Age 26 - served from July to November - a division commander
I don’t think so. He deserted OK, but he needed a reason to be admitted into another country. Desertion won’t do it, but a witness to torture and abuse will. Certainly his story will spread throughout he western world.
Are you trying to argue he’s making it up? You’re the third person I’ve seen trying to do so.
But Wagner openly markets itself based on its war crimes. It doesn’t deny them. They film it and then send sledge hammers to human rights groups to express how little they care about being called war criminals.
The sledge hammer thing started in Syria when Wagner tortured to death a Syrian deserter. They filmed themselves working on his limbs with the hammer before finally cutting off his head with a knife and then removing the other limbs and hanging up the body for display before burning it.
Wanna see the video? Not hard to find.
India laundering Russian oil.....for the United States
I suggest you open a separate thread for the Indian connection.
Age 26 is not a commander of much of anything. Age 26 would be a junior captain in the US Army. Platoon leader. Not a regiment. That’s absurd.
Translation error or Wagner has some different nomenclature for its units. If he was getting 30-40 replacements a week it was company size probably.
European countries are admitting Russian draft dodgers and deserters as political refugees. He didn’t have to make up stories I think. He wouldn’t have been deported back to Russia.
He is only age 26, first JOINED Wagner only 6 months ago.
But this article says he is a battalion commander....
I guess equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel.
You guys believe this?
Custer was a general at that age…
We don’t know what his prior Russian military experience and rank were, his prior service and criminal record may have made him a good fit for the outlaw mercenary group.
“Mr Medvedev had joined the paramilitary group in July 2022 on a four-month contract, but had deserted after witnessing a host of human rights abuses and war crimes while serving in Ukraine.
He said that Mr Medvedev is a former soldier in the Russian army and that he later served time in prison between 2017 and 2018 before joining the Wagner Group.
He was placed in charge of a Wagner division in Ukraine, where the mercenary group supplied him with around 30-40 troops every week, Mr Osechkin said.
In a video posted by Gulagu to its social media channels, Mr Medvedev said he fled Ukraine in November after being informed that the group intended to extend his contract indefinitely.”
Wagner is recruiting straight from the prisons and using human waves of meat even per Russian sources. That’s a high rate of death and probably promotion. And you don’t need a lot of real skills when your whole strategy is to rush the enemy position under the cover of artillery and hoping you don’t die.
division and divizion are 2 different things.
Divizion (in artillery) could be as little as 10-11 field artillery pieces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divizion
Fans of Russia are disappointed in his conduct.
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