Tom Roseth, a former Norwegian intelligence officer who heads the Ukraine-program at the Norwegian Defence University College, stands outside his office at the Akershus Fortress in Oslo on Feb. 1.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
Andrej Medvedev took a long drag on a cigarette as he stood outside the main entrance of Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service and steadied himself for another round of questioning.
Mr. Medvedev, a former member of Russia’s notorious Wagner Group, looked cold and exhausted in his grey hoodie, sweatpants and light jacket.
He’d been talking to security officials in Oslo for days, repeating his story over and over.
“It’s very hard,” he said during a break Wednesday. “They want to know a lot of information.”
He has told police that he left the mercenary force in early November after four months in Ukraine. He said he was horrified by the atrocities he’d seen committed by Wagner soldiers in Bakhmut, which included killing newly recruited Russian prisoners who refused to fight and using other recruits as cannon fodder.
He made his way across Russia to the Norwegian border and, in the early hours of Jan. 13, managed to elude border officers by running across a frozen river and jumping a three-metre-high fence. He begged for help at the first house he came to and ended up in Oslo applying for political asylum.
Mr. Medvedev, 26, has insisted that he wants to tell the world about war crimes committed by the Wagner Group, a private army founded by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. The charity Russia Behind Bars has estimated that 80 per cent of the 50,000 convicts recruited by Wagner have been killed or are missing.
“It is not for nothing that they have been announced a terrorist organization by the U.S.,” Mr. Medvedev said.
His plea for asylum has drawn international attention and caused a stir in Norway, which has a complicated relationship with Russia. While many Norwegians sympathize with his plight, they also feel uncomfortable about harbouring someone who willingly joined the Wagner army, which has confirmed that Mr. Medvedev was a member.
“It’s a hot potato,” said Tom Roseth, a former military intelligence officer who heads the Ukraine program at Norway’s Defence University College.
A group of Ukrainians in Oslo hold a daily demonstration in front of parliament to voice their support for Ukraine.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
Prof. Roseth said Norway has always had to carefully balance its relations with Russia. While the Nordic country is a NATO member, Norway and Russia must work together in the far north on issues such as search and rescue and resource management. There have also been disputes over Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago that belongs to Norway but has a Russian settlement.
“We have some common interests, or at least the need for practical co-operation in the Arctic,” said Prof. Roseth. “That’s been harder for us especially after the Russian invasion in February last year.”
Norway’s Ukrainian community, bolstered by 30,000 refugees from the war, has less patience with what many see as the country’s passivity toward Russia. They have called on the government to send Mr. Medvedev to Ukraine to face prosecution.
“He’s a criminal and he must be punished,” said Olga Mosand, who is from Ukraine but has lived in Trondheim for 20 years. “He knew what he was doing and he must take responsibility for that.”
Anna Storozhke, who is also a Ukrainian-Norwegian, said she was furious that Norway had allowed Mr. Medvedev to seek refugee status. She’s part of a small group of people who gather outside the parliament buildings in Oslo almost daily to voice support for Ukraine and oppose granting Mr. Medvedev asylum. “He’s a Russian terrorist for us,” she said.
In an interview, Mr. Medvedev acknowledged that his case was problematic for Norwegians and Ukrainians. “But I do really hope that they will understand what I say,” he said.
“This is my purpose, to understand me,” he added. “First to put the responsibility on the people who have arranged all this hell in Ukraine. And secondly to say that I’m not the evil one. I have realized what I was doing and I’m trying to put up against it and stand up against it.”
Mr. Medvedev’s supporters argue that he merits asylum because he can’t return to Russia and his testimony could be used to prosecute war criminals.
Olga Mosand, who heads the Ukrainian Union in Trondheim, western Norway, believes that Norway should not grant asylum to any Russians because of the war in Ukraine.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
“I think that his information is important,” said Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian dissident based in Paris who has been helping Mr. Medvedev. “It’s important for the International Criminal Court, the United Nations and for the Ukrainian police.”
Brynjulf Risnes, an Oslo-based human-rights lawyer who has represented Mr. Medvedev, said he would likely be granted asylum. “He will get protection in Norway – I am quite sure about that.”
But critics point to Mr. Medvedev’s complicated backstory, which has raised questions about his claim. They note that he spent a year as a paratrooper in the Russian army and that he has served time in prison for robbery. In a handful of media interviews since he landed in Norway, he has highlighted the actions of other Wagner soldiers but has been less clear about his conduct as a platoon leader.
Mr. Medvedev, who was placed in an orphanage in Siberia at the age of 12, has said that he joined the Wagner Group last July because he was desperate for money. He’d been released from jail and was living on the streets of Krasnodar, not far from Wagner’s main base.
The group offered him a place to stay, food and a paycheque. Within 10 days he was in Bakhmut. He quit the force on Nov. 8 and returned to the Moscow area, fearing for his life. He made a failed attempt to drive to Finland before successfully crossing the Norwegian border.
He declined to discuss the particulars of his allegations or his actions in Ukraine. He said he regretted the earlier interviews, given the backlash his comments have caused. “I was moved by my wish to be open but now I see that it would be better to avoid this kind of attention while the investigation has been going on,” he said.
He knows that his future remains uncertain while the police investigate his story. He worries about being sent back to Russia, but he’s hopeful that Norwegians will come to accept him and that he can start a new life in Norway. “I like the country,” he said before returning for more questioning. “I like the people.”
Andrej Medvedev was a fighter in Russia’s notorious Wagner Group mercenary force who fled to Norway where he's seeking political asylum. Medvedev admits he's probably now seen as a murderer and says Wagner commanders would throw ill-equipped troops into combat with no regard for their lives. Thumbnail photo by Anna Liminowicz.
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