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Norwegian police have detained a previous commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who a short while ago fled to Norway, but his law firm dismissed tips that he might be deported to Russia.
A Russian prisoners’ legal rights team, Gulagu.net, printed a recording of a cellphone job interview on Monday with Andrei Medvedev in which he urged Norway to allow him stay and testify versus the personal navy team, which has been fighting Ukrainian forces in some of the most brutal battles of the war in Ukraine.
Medvedev mentioned he experienced been detained and handcuffed on Sunday at a lodge in which he was keeping and taken to a detention centre. Gulagu.net explained Medvedev had been explained to he faced deportation.
Asked about the claim, a Norwegian police spokesperson mentioned: “No, this is not proper,” without elaborating.
Medvedev’s Norwegian law firm, Brynjulf Risnes, place the risk of his staying deported at “zero,” adding he experienced been detained because of to “disagreement” about steps taken to make sure his basic safety.
“He is below really rigid protection actions and we disagree about the way they are applied. These have triggered frictions,” Risnes told Reuters.
Fears for his everyday living
Medvedev fled by crossing the Russian-Norwegian border and has claimed he is in fear for his life after witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the front lines in Ukraine to fight for Wagner.
“My aim in coming in this article was to begin with of course to preserve my daily life and secondly to convey to the truth of the matter to the individuals and the planet,” he explained in the cell phone interview with Gulagu.web, recorded on Monday.
He claimed he also wanted to “punish” Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, a near ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the fatalities of people who died on his orders in Ukraine.
‘Wants to reside and testify’
The legal rights team explained Medvedev would facial area “brutal murder and dying” for talking out against Wagner if he was returned to Russia.
“We do not whitewash Medvedev. He has performed a lot of negative issues in his everyday living,” the legal rights team reported.
“But he has viewed the mild, he has realized this, he is completely ready and inclined to co-work with the planet, with the global investigation and with the authorities of Norway. He would like to stay and testify” against Prigozhin.
Medvedev is an orphan who joined the Russian army and served time in jail before joining Wagner very last July on a 4-thirty day period contract that he reported the team experienced then frequently extended with no his consent.
He has reported he crossed the snowy border into Norway from Russia in the Arctic Circle following climbing as a result of barbed-wire fences and evading a border patrol with dogs.