– As far as I know, no one has managed this in winter in modern times.
Editor Thomas Nilsen in The Independent Barents Observer says that it is almost impossible to get across where Wagner defector Andrej Medvedev crossed the border into Norway.
Supervised
The border area from Murmansk towards Kirkenes is around 20 miles long, and is strictly guarded and monitored.
– The FSB is the Russian border guard. They have systems to take in the mobile phone signals from everyone who enters the area, explains Nilsen.
BORDER GUARD: The Russian security service FSB is responsible for the border guard. Here are two FSB guards on assignment at Kola. Photo: Russian authorities
Those who do not live or have a residence permit in the border zone will immediately appear on the border guards’ monitors when they enter with a mobile phone, he continues.
– There are barbed wire fences, electric alarms, cameras with night vision and many border guards in the area. They are probably on fairly high alert now, says Nilsen.
The unique thing is that he managed this in winter in the most guarded part of the border, near the town of Nikel, and over towards the Skrøytnes/Svanvik area in Pasvikdalen, says the editor.
– What people are talking about in the border areas is how Andrej Medvedev has managed to get over. First into the border zone with Norway, then over the barbed wire fence and then jump over a small forest before reaching Pasvikelva, says Nilsen to TV 2.
The border crossing took place in an area that is very open, in the middle of the thickest part of the river. According to Lieutenant Hanne Beverli in the Pasvik company, it is several hundred meters to walk over the river.
OPEN: The Norwegian-Russian border runs through Svanevatn in Pasvikelva. Photo: Odd Arne Hartvigsen / TV 2
Kripos has begun questioning Medvedev. Kripos participates in the international investigation of war crimes in Ukraine at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
– Medvedev is tired, but still willing to share information, his lawyer Brynjulf Risnes told NTB on Saturday.
Risnes cannot go into detail about what is said in the interrogations, but confirms that the topics will be his service in the Wagner group.
– Scares people
Thomas Nilsen believes the defector will also be questioned about the border crossing itself, which took place on the night of Friday 13 January.
– Norway will be very interested in knowing how he actually got over the border, says the editor and adds:
- Was Medvedev only helped by one person in Murmansk, who drove him to the border area?
- Or could others on the inside, such as the border guard forces of the FSB have staged this, and sent him over to Norway as a provocation?
– Is it only possible to drive into the border area outside Nikel? This scares people. People wonder if this is the first of many defectors to come, says Thomas Nilsen to TV 2.
On the Russian side, Medvedev’s defection is mentioned in the news and shared on social media.
– It might trigger that others on the Russian side want to try the same thing, says Thomas Nilsen.
– A slaughter bench
He says that there have been thousands of soldiers from the 200th motorized brigade in Pechenga, as well as other soldiers from the Kola Peninsula, who have been sent to the war in Ukraine.
– Ordinary Russian people know that the war in Ukraine is a slaughterhouse, and now ordinary people who are not soldiers are being mobilized. There are many rumors on the Russian side that there will be a large-scale mobilization later in January, says Nilsen.
He says that in the border municipality of Sør-Varanger, the fear is that some will try to get away, and see Norway as a last resort.
– It is a very risky escape from Russia. It is still partly polar dark here for large parts of the day, there is cold and deep snow and Russian border soldiers who reportedly fire sharp shots at those who try, says Thomas Nilsen to TV 2.
WATCH OUT: Norwegian border hunters watch over the border with Russia. Photo: Odd Arne Hartvigsen / TV 2
Can’t confirm shot solution
The Wagner mercenary has told Gulagu.net that Russian border guards sent dogs after him, and shot at him.
– The bullets passed right next to me. I threw the phone away into the forest, then I started running across the ice in the direction of the lights from some houses on the other side, says Medvedev in the video.
TV 2 has asked the police in Finnmark if they have made it clear that shots were fired, as the Wagner defector tells. But they have no information to suggest that it was shot across the border.
– That is his version and experience, he may have experienced the situation like this. We can’t take that away from him, says police chief Ellen Kathrine Hætta to TV 2.
Border Commissioner Jens-Arne Høilund can neither confirm nor deny Medvedev’s claims.
– But as far as we have observed, no shots have been fired over the border, says Høilund iFinnmark.
TV 2 has asked Medvedev’s lawyer Brynjulf Risnes for a comment on the statements from the police chief and the border commissioner, but has not received a response to our inquiries.
