Norway wants to talk to asylum-seeker from Wagner Group

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Norwegian police unit that investigates war crimes said Tuesday that it wants to talk to a Russian asylum-seeker who reportedly is a former high-ranking member of the private Russian military contractor Wagner Group.

Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service, which takes part in the investigation of war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court, said it was in contact with Andrey Medvedev and his Norwegian lawyer and “would like to conduct an interrogation of him in the near future. Medvedev has the status of a witness.”

Last week, Medvedev, who says he's fears for his life, fled to Norway where he sought asylum. In a video posted by the Russian dissident group Gulagu.net, Medvedev said he came under Russian gunfire before he crossed into the Scandinavian country.

Medvedev explained he had left the Wagner after his contract, initially from July to November, was extended without his consent, and was willing to testify about any war crimes he witnessed and denied he had participated in any.

In the video interview with France-based Gulagu, the ex-fighter says he feared experiencing the same fate as another recruit whose head was reportedly smashed in by a sledgehammer by the Wagner Group in a public execution. In a segment apparently filmed before he fled Russia, he asks for help from Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Federal Security Service, or FSB, among others. Gulagu's Vladimir Osechkin said that Medvedev and another man reached out for help in December.

“He himself has said that he has been part of the Wagner Group, and it is interesting for the National Criminal Investigation Service to get more information about this period,” the Norwegian police said in a statement.

Last week, police in Arctic Norway...