Posted on 01/19/2023 2:42:24 AM PST by EBH
A Russian man who reportedly is a former high-ranking member of the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group, has sought asylum in Norway, authorities said Monday.
The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, also known by its Norwegian acronym UDI, confirmed to The Associated Press that Andrey Medvedev has sought shelter in Norway.
"For reasons of security and privacy, the UDI cannot comment further on this matter,” UDI said in an email to the AP.
His Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, confirmed that Medvedev was in Norway and had sought asylum.
The case was handed to the Norwegian immigration police and the man was transferred to Oslo, where he was placed in a center for violators of migration laws. Police in Norway have declined to comment on the case.
Last week, police in Arctic Norway said a person had illegally entered from Russia by crossing the two countries' border, which is 198 kilometers (123 miles) long.
The man, who was only identified by authorities as a foreigner, was detained by border guards and the arrest was undramatic, police said. The man is said to have visited a private house in the border area and asked for help. Police said that they had been notified late Thursday by Russian border guards who discovered traces in the snow that could indicate that someone had crossed the border illegally.
It is believed that person was identical with Medvedev, who according to the Norwegian news agency NTB on Monday has been on the run since he defected from the Wagner Group on July 6. He reportedly has told a Russian human rights group that he is ready to tell everything he knows about the Wagner Group, its activities and its owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
(Excerpt) Read more at audacy.com ...
Looks like he didn’t want to accidentally fall out of a window!
Wagner Storm Troopers sign a 6 month contract and Wagner honors discharge. They recently had a big ceremony (Recruiting PR, Granted) but where the contracted prisoners were free from further obligation either to Wagner or to their previous sentences. Almost all prisoners were wary of Wagners claims. They no longer will be. Look for Wagner to be able to recruit some of the meanest Orcs on Gods green earth stuck in the hellholes that are Russian prisons.
There are 500,000 Russian inmates. These Mercs make fat cash, but what do think they are going to do as ex-cons when they run out of the large wads of cash? It is not like they are going to be responsible with it? Many will re-up and so manpower for Wagner is not going to be a problem. Re-uppers and people who were skeptical now saying “Gimme some of that.” A PR win for Wagner.
The guy that defected as I understand was originally a Norwegian National. Correct me if I am wrong. For the Russian prisoners, Wagner is a sweet deal.
If he was a prisoner it is not as if Norway is going to extradite him.
Makes perfect sense to me.
Russian National prisoners have two options. Stay in the hellhole that is the Russian prison system and likely get killed, or join Wagner and risk your life with an experienced brutal operation and get freed in 6 months.
He had option 3. Say pretty please Norway, I am sorry I changed nationalities... please get me out of this Ork army.
This sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel or video game. Matter of fact, some of the lore for StarCraft indicates that the Terran Marines were genetically modified prisoners who were conscripted and sent to fight. Seems like an interesting idea.
Perhaps if we find valuable ores on Mars or Ceres we’ll send prisoners to mine them. Seems like a good trade: rot in prison for the rest of your life or die in the vacuum of space. At least they’d have one Hell of a view.
We should consider this strategy as well given the recruiting issues.
It does sound like many scifi books and games. Prisoner army.
The fine print:
he was in Wagner for a total of 3 months.
He joined in July, left before November.
He’s age 26.
So 3 months total in the organization, age 26.
Any chance the journalists are exaggerating about his “high rank”?
Maybe...he was tasked to oversee the prisoner army? And when he realized what was happening...it became a hard no.
A prisoner army leads to human rights problems.
Ukraine does the same thing, releasing prisoners early into their military
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/02/27/7326457/
The last thing the military and America and the countries we fight needs are to move hardened criminals from prison into our military.
Instead of the silly movies where America is looking for the ‘perfect killing machine’, our struggle is to identify and keep out sociopaths and psychopaths.
Corruption, thievery, murder, rape, wartime atrocities and massacres, pedophilia in war zones, black markets, spying, selling of national secrets, working backdoor deals with a battlefield enemy for profit, leadership based on personal deals, bribery, favoritism, trading rank for sex, disloyalty, laziness, lack of humility, lack of responsibility corrupt training schools operated and run by cons and criminals.
These are things we have to fight, for the rare criminal mind that gets through our psychological screening processes, we do not want to deliberately fill our military with them.
The characteristics of effective soldiers are almost entirely the opposite of criminals, that is why prisons are hell-holes populated by sick minds of dog-eat-dog impulses and our military manages to operate so smoothly and effectively while doing things that are so incredible, it is because of the quality of the individuals that make up the whole.
His rank in a mercenary group pulled out of prison for cannon fodder, is possible, he was prior military and may have some rudimentary leadership skills and ability to march civilians and show them how to hold their weapons.
Bringing in 10s of thousands of civilian criminals means that someone has to herd them for the weeks or months of their short life as mercs, so appointing whoever is available to some simple ‘lead-the-charge’ rank is possible, sort of like when students are chosen for leadership positions in basic training.
Wasn’t this a story last week when a 26 year old sought asylum because he didn’t want to extend his Wagner contract because he had witnessed war crimes???
You have a point.
Not the same thing, a different type of prisoner, all ex-military with “real combat experience”, in small numbers and not released as mercenaries to a mercenary/war crimes/for-profit group.
This concession was made for a small nation being invaded and crushed by the world’s #2 Army that is coming from right next door.
“”He said: “Ukrainians with real combat experience will be released from custody and will be able to compensate for their guilt in the hottest spots.
“All sanctions against some individuals who participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation will be lifted. The key thing now is defence.”
I must admit I don’t get the context.
Looks like mafia.
The story of the Show Lillyhammer is that a mob guy (Steve van Zandt, from the Sopranos and Springsteen band) has to flee NY and goes to Norway to hide.
By and large, it don’t work well.
Sci Fi?? No, Hollywood. Recall “The Dirty Dozen”? And probably others like it.
But long term? No. Not good.
Both my FRiend. The Dirty Dozen is one thing from Hollywood. This has been a theme in Sci Fi for almost 100 years. I am not going to bother researching but trust me there are hundreds of books that has essentially indentured prisoners as the theme.
I read literally thousands of Sci Fi books in my teens.
“and goes to Norway to hide”
Now, that is a different plot. smile
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