OSLO — A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway told Reuters he wanted to apologize for fighting in Ukraine and was speaking…
Andrei Medvedev, who crossed the Russian-Norwegian border on Jan. 13, says he witnessed the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners taken to Ukraine to fight for Wagner.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter.
“I have decided to stand against it publicly, to help to ensure that perpetrators are punished in certain cases, and I will try to make my contribution, at least a small bit.”A special report published by Reuters last week found a graveyard in southern Russia buried with men who were convicts who had been recruited by Wagner to fight in Ukraine.
Medvedev said he had served several jail terms, including one for a robbery, and when he came out of prison the last time, he decided to join the Wagner group, in July 2022. “It was fucked up. The roads to Artemovsk were littered with the corpses of our soldiers,” he said, using the Russian place name for Bakhmut. “The losses were heavy. … I saw many friends die.”
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