Global Courant 2023-05-18 04:42:06
By Nerijus Adomaitis
OSLO (Reuters) – A former commander of Russia’s Wagner group who sought asylum in Norway after crossing the Russian-Norwegian border in January said on Wednesday he wanted to return to Russia, even though he believed it put his life at risk life could form.
Andrei Medvedev, who has previously spoken about his fighting time in Ukraine, said in one of several videos on YouTube that he himself decided to return to his homeland.
The 26-year-old said he felt like “kind of a kid in a big game” that he no longer wanted to be a part of.
“Recently I have decided that I am ready to go back to the Russian Federation. I have contacted the Russian Embassy in Oslo for help, to facilitate my return,” Medvedev said in one of five short videos. this decision alone.
He escaped from Russia in January via the Arctic border with Norway. He said he had gone through barbed wire fences and evaded a border patrol with dogs when he heard Russian guards firing as he ran through a forest and across a frozen river.
His story made headlines around the world as a rare example of someone defecting to a Western country while claiming to have fought for the Wagner mercenary group in Ukraine.
At the time, Medvedev said he sought asylum in Norway because he feared for his life after witnessing the murder and mistreatment of Russian prisoners recruited by the group of mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.
In a video published Wednesday, he said he would hand over documents “tomorrow” that he believed would facilitate his return.
“I hoped that I could find peace and tranquility here, that I could leave all politics, the war, the army behind me, but somehow I couldn’t,” Medvedev said in Russian.
“We’ll see what would happen in Russia. If they kill me, okay. If they don’t, thank you very much. If I’m alive, thank you more.”
He was convicted in April of being involved in a bar fight in Oslo and carrying an air pistol.
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He told Reuters at the time that he was looking to the future, studying Norwegian and hoping to get asylum.
Reuters could not reach Medvedev by phone on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Terje Solsvik and Stephen Coates)
