Andrei Medvedev pictured in Oslo, Norway, two days afterr fleeing around the border

A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary workforce who recently fled to Norway has been detained by police in the country.

Andrei Medvedev, 26, is assumed to be the first member of the paramilitary business enterprise to defect to the West.

He says he fears for his existence after escaping on January THIRTEEN having been horrified by means of the mistreatment and killing of fellow recruits.

Gulagu.net, a Russian prisoners’ rights team, printed an interview wherein Medvedev claimed to were advised he could be sent again to Russia.

Asked in regards to the declare, a Norwegian police spokesperson said ‘this is not right kind’, with out elaborating.

His Norwegian attorney, Brynjulf Risnes, put the risk of his being deported at ‘0’, including he were detained due to ‘war of words’ about measures taken to ensure his safety.

in the phone interview, Medvedev steered Norway to let him keep and testify in opposition to Wagner, which has been preventing Ukrainian forces in a few of essentially the most brutal battles of the war.

‘My goal in coming here used to be firstly of course to avoid wasting my existence and secondly to tell the truth to the folk and the arena,’ he said in the phone interview with Gulagu.net, recorded on Monday.

He mentioned he additionally desired to ‘punish’ Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, a detailed ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the deaths of individuals who died on his orders in Ukraine.

Medvedev says he fears for his lifestyles (Image: Reuters)

Gulagu.net said Medvedev may face ‘brutal homicide and death’ for talking out in opposition to he workforce if he was once back to Russia.

‘We do not whitewash Medvedev. He has performed many dangerous things in his lifestyles,’ it said.

‘However he has seen the light, he has discovered this, he’s in a position and prepared to cooperate with the arena, with the international investigation and with the authorities of Norway, he wants to are living and testify.’

Medvedev is an orphan who joined the Russian army and served time in jail earlier than joining Wagner last July on a four-month contract that he stated the gang had then repeatedly prolonged with out his consent.

He has mentioned he crossed the snowy Arctic Circle border into Norway, a NATO member, from Russia after mountain climbing via barbed-wire fences and evading a border patrol with canine.

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