Former Wagner unit commander who deserted to Norway detained while attempting to return to Russia

Andrey Medvedev, a 27-year-old former Wagner Group unit commander, was detained by Norwegian police yesterday evening while attempting to cross the border with Russia, Norwegian TV channel NRK reported on Saturday.

A man in his 20s, whom local media outlet The Barent Observer identified as Andrey Medvedev, was detained by the police in the Norwegian village of Grense Jakobselv that borders Russia on Friday evening. He will be charged with violating the rules of crossing a land border.

According to The Barent Observer, Medvedev was detained several hours after a brief meeting with the outlet’s journalist that took place in the Norwegian town of Kirkenes, located close to the Russian border. Medvedev said that he was planning to cross the border and was looking for someone with a car to give him a life.

“He explained that he believed that he soon would be extradited to Ukraine and that a return to Russia would be a safer alternative,” The Barent Observer reported.

Medvedev’s lawyer confirmed in a conversation with NRK that his client was the man detained at the border. He called Medvedev’s detention a ”misunderstanding”, saying that Medvedev had no plans to return to Russia and was just trying to find the place where he had previously crossed the border.

In January, Andrey Medvedev illegally crossed the border between Russia and Norway, asking for political asylum. He claimed to be a former commander of the Wagner unit notorious for the execution with a sledgehammer of its member Yevgeny Nuzhin, a Russian convict recruited to the Wagner Group to fight in the Ukraine war who then switched sides. In May, Medvedev said that he wanted to return to Russia.