Wagner commander who fled from Russia to Norway begs for asylum after police arrest him outside Oslo bar

Andrei Medvedev described running as Russian guards shot at him

Medvedev sought asylum in January 2023 after having defected from Wagner and fled to Norway (Gorm Kallestad / NTB)

A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway last year has been denied asylum but will not be deported as it is too dangerous to send him back, his lawyer has said.

Andrei Medvedev, who escaped Russia in January 2023 across its Arctic border with Norway, has described running as Russian guards shot at him. He has spoken about his time fighting in Ukraine as part of Wagner.

The lawyer for Andrey, Brynjulf Risnes, said that his client was granted temporary residence “due to the security risk involved in sending him back to Russia” but was not given permanent residence or citizenship.

Medvedev sought asylum in January 2023 after having defected from Wagner and fled to Norway, crossing illegally over the country’s 198-km (123-mile) border with Russia, saying he feared for his life if he were sent back.

In April 2023, Medvedev was sentenced to 14 days in jail in Norway for disorderly conduct and for carrying an air gun in a public place. Officers had detained Medvedev outside a pub in Oslo following a bar fight.

Members of Wagner group sit atop of a tank in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don, on June 24, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Medvedev said he agreed to join the Wagner Group - a private Russian military company known for its brutal tactics - from July to November 2022, but he left after his contract was extended without his consent.

He reportedly told Russian dissident group Gulagu.net that he was ready to tell everything he knew about Wagner and its owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said he was willing to testify about any possible war crimes he witnessed, though he denied participating in any himself.

Yevgeny Prigozhin (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A private military company, Wagner staged with its founder Prigozhin a brief rebellion against the Kremlin and marched on Moscow in June 2022. The mutiny ended with a deal that saw the relocation of Wagner troops to Belarus.

Two months later, Prigozhin and several of his top associates were killed in a plane crash that was widely seen as the Kremlin’s revenge.