Norway faces dilemma on ex-Wagner fighter seeking asylum

Andrei Medvedev, 26, claims to have deserted from Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary force, escaping his native Russia by running across a frozen Arctic river into Norway.

Since arriving in the country in January, the ex-Wagner fighter has voluntarily attended about a dozen interviews with Norwegian police officers investigating war crimes in Ukraine, according to The New York Times.

Photo: Newsrattler, YouTube

Having arrived in Norway four months ago seeking asylum, Medvedev’s case remains pending and the country has yet to decide if its humanitarian ethos is applicable to him or not.

Photo: Mark Konig/Unsplash

But as Norway evaluates his claim, it is facing pressure from activists in Ukraine and Western Europe, who say giving safe haven in Europe to Russian fighters fails to hold Russians accountable for the invasion.

Under Norwegian law, refusing to fight in an illegal war may grant a right to asylum. However, this right does not apply to war criminals, and local prosecutors can charge people who they believe have committed war crimes elsewhere.

Nevertheless, he continues to cooperate with Norwegian authorities and even told the New York Times he had helped investigators locate Wagner facilities in Ukraine and Russia and map the group’s structure.

But what exactly is Wagner and why is information about the group considered valuable?

The Wagner Group, or simply, Wagner, is a Russian paramilitary group known as Putin’s ‘private army.’ US officials designate it a “transnational criminal organization”.

It is believed that pro-Nazi tendencies led to naming this network of irregular soldiers after Hitler's favorite musician. The emblem of the Wagner group (pictured here) evokes memories of the SS.

The Wagner group first appeared in 2014, during the annexation of Crimea.

One of the biggest mystery surrounding the group was who its founder was. However, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted, for the very first time in September 2022, that he founded the Wagner Group private military company in 2014.

The High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European UnionJosep Borrell, said in 2021 that Wagner "poses a threat and causes instability in various parts of the planet."

In 2022, a video published by The New York Times and other media, revealed that the Wagner group recruited prisoners to fight in Ukraine.

The video shows a man haranguing a group of inmates in the Russian language in a prison courtyard. He promises them freedom in exchange for going to Ukraine to fight for Russia.

There is information prior to the broadcast of the video that already pointed to this recruitment practice in Russian prisons as something habitual for Wagner's men.

There’s even a movie about it. In 'The Dirty Dozen', directed by Robert Aldrich in 1967, the Wagner group poses the dilemma of "dying behind bars" or "fighting with honor for Russia".

Marat Gabidullin is a man who fought with the Wagner group but that later renounced his mercenary past and wrote a book about his experiences.

Gabidullin said in an interview with Radio France International: "A Wagner soldier is a man who is not held accountable. He has no legal existence, no legal status. He acts with absolute impunity. He will never answer for his actions or his crimes in court.”

Will the same be true for Medvedev if he in fact committed war crimes? Not according to Norway’s policy. However, Ukrainian investigators have asked to see him and he has refused claiming he’s helping to end the war, according to The New York Times.