Alleged Defector from Mercenary Group Wagner, Andrej Medvedev, Wants to Return to Russia

Andrej Medvedev, who says he defected from the Wagner group before escaping to Norway, posted videos saying he wants to go back to Russia.

The Russian 26-year-old crossed the border between Russia and Norway at the Pasvikelva on the night of 13 January this year. He claimed to have been a leader in mercenary group Wagnermercenary group WagnerThe so-called Wagner group is a Russian, privately owned paramilitary organization. The mercenaries have participated in warfare i.a. in Syria and in several African countries, in addition to Ukraine.but that he escaped when he saw the true face of war.

After he came to Norway, there has been a regular storm around Medvedev:

• He was prosecuted for violence after a fight outside a pub in Oslo, but acquitted.
• He was detained in Gothenburg because he does not have a residence permit in Sweden. He said he had taken the bus to Gothenburg because cigarettes are cheaper in Sweden than in Norway.
• Medvedev was interned at the immigration detention center at Trandum for a period.
• He complained about the food and the Norwegian police in video interviews with the human rights group Gulagu.net.
• Doubts were cast on the story he tells.

Says he wants to go home to Russia

On Wednesday 17 May, the 26-year-old asylum seeker posted some short videos. There he says that he wants to go back to Russia. Medvedev films from the residence he is staying in. Here he complains about the standard. He says that he has been in contact with the Russian embassy to get help in arranging his return home.

He also posted a Tiktok video. It was originally posted by Ukrainian protesters in Oslo. Andrej Medvedev stands at the Soviet war memorial at Vestre gravlund in Oslo. It is May 9, the day Russia calls Victory Day. Representatives from the Russian Embassy will lay flowers at the memorial. Medvedev is vilified by the Ukrainian protesters. He stands smoking, looks back at them, but says nothing.

The Russian Embassy has stated that Andrej Medvedev has contacted them. – As for Medvedev’s desire to return to Russia, this is his own initiative. That’s what Timur Chekanov at the Russian Embassy tells NTB.

New video from gulagu.net

On Thursday evening, the human rights group gulagu.net published a video. The group is led by the exiled Russian activist Vladimir Osheshkin. Osheshkin assisted Andrey Medvedev with the escape. In the video, the two talk together on May 8. Andrej Medvedev also says here that he has decided to travel to Russia.

The defender: – Absolutely certain that he has not decided to go to Russia

Andrej Medvedev’s defender Brynjulf ​​Risnes tells Aftenposten that the outbursts are an expression of his client’s view that life in Norway is difficult.

– I am absolutely certain that he has not made a decision to go to Russia. But he finds life as an asylum seeker difficult, and struggles to adapt, emphasizes Brynjulf ​​Risnes.

– My impression is that the contact with the Russian embassy concerns that he wants help in obtaining Russian identity papers. He has nothing, says Risnes.

– If he leaves, the asylum application will be cancelled

– It is not ideal that he posts such videos. But it is an expression of despair.

Risnes points out that there is no problem with regard to the asylum case that the 26-year-old has contact with the embassy. But if he travels to Russia, the asylum application will be cancelled.

The lawyer believes that it will obviously be a big risk for Medvedev if he returns to Russia – both in terms of a possible prison sentence for the desertion he claims to have carried out, and statements about Russian war crimes he has made to the Western media. The mercenary group Wagner is also notorious for punishing and executing defectors in grotesque fashion. Brynjulf ​​Risnes says that he has informed the 26-year-old about this, and that Medvedev is aware of this.