OSLO: A former fighter with the Wagner Group, who recently fled to Norway to seek asylum, has been arrested. According to Gulagu.net, a Russian rights group that helped him escape, Andrey Medvedev faces possible deportation to Russia.
Jon Andreas Johansen, a police official in charge of immigration affairs, told media on Monday that the 26-year-old had been apprehended on suspicion of entering the country without documentation.
“It is being assessed whether he should be produced for detention,” Johansen said. Medvedev crossed into Norway from neighbouring Russia on January 13, looking for shelter in the Nordic nation.
He claims to have climbed through barbed-wire fences at the 198 kilometre-long (123-mile) frontier, and evaded border patrol officials with dogs. After witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the front lines in Ukraine to fight for the Wagner Group, Medvedev feared for his life. –Agencies
