360 exclusive with the former
fighter for the volunteer group
who has defected.
As you know,
volunteer group is a mercenary
force run
by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch
close to Vladimir Putin.
The US has labeled Wagner
a transnational criminal organization
which has been heavily
involved in the war
in Ukraine, has been heavily
recruiting from Russian prisons.
Bloggers taking credit for recent gains
in the areas around Bermuda.
There's been a lot of reports
of fatalities
among volunteers,
poorly trained
and equipped
convicts, and reports
that those who refuse to fight
or attempt to escape
are executed as a warning to others.
One volunteer
fighter who defected to Ukrainian forces
and then was sent back to Russia
as part of a prisoner
exchange
was then executed on camera
with the sledgehammer.
Now, a man named Andrei
Medvedev, claiming
to have defected from the Wagner
group, has crossed into Norway
and has just been released
after being interviewed
by Norwegian officials.
He's hoping to receive asylum there.
Andre, an orphan,
spent four years in prison
in Russia for robbery
before joining the Wagner group.
And we should note
his service in Bognor
was confirmed by its leader, Prigozhin.
I spoke to Andrei Medvedev before airtime
If you could just talk a little bit
about what it was like
in the
in in the battle on the battlefield
with the prisoners.
How were they how were they used?
What were the tactics?
What was it like?
[speaking Russian]
We weren't receiving any tactical plans.
We just got a command
to capture the position of the enemy.
And by ourselves
had to come up with a step
by step plan of how to fulfill it.
It was our problem
to ensure that a command is fulfilled.
You have said in the past that you saw
Wagner troops getting executed
for disobeying orders.
Is that accurate?
[speaking Russian] such cases happened
very often there.
There was a question
of how to persuade new recruits
who arrived at the front lines
and saw
what is going on there and decided
they don't want a fight
to still go ahead and fight.
They would round up those
who did not want to fight
and shoot them in front of the newcomers
to develop their
self-preservation instinct.
Why did you decide to leave
the Wagner Group?
-- I plan to leave Wagner for a while,
but I didn't have the opportunity.
I was afraid I will be captured
and shot as a traitor.
I am ready for serious action,
but I also want to live by the end.
I knew they won't let me go.
I will return
as part of the dead or the wounded.
It was time to make a radical decision.
If it wasn't for my guys,
my comrades,
I would have been buried
at some training ground.
There have been allegations and reports
of the execution of civilians,
people, civilians, being shot
just walking down the street
of abuse of civilians.
Did you see any of that?
Did you witness any of that?
-- I cannot say I witnessed this
because I was tasked
mainly with forested areas
and approaches to parliament.
I am not aware of such cases
no matter what.
We had a strict code of conduct
for fighters.
If those rules are breached,
there will be punishment.
You escaped into into Norway
and the spot where you crossed over
where you said
that you crossed over into Norway.
It's very heavily
guarded on the Russian border.
And some people have raised questions
about how you were able
to even get to the border
because it's so heavily.
There are so many checkpoints
on the way there Why cross at that place
where it was so heavily guarded?
--- I will say that the border
with Norway,
where I crossed
is not as protected
as much as the border with Finland.
But in this case,
I am honestly very grateful
for the training
I received with the Ministry
of Russian Defense,
where I did military service
and grateful to Wagner.
The training
I received there came in useful
and I gladly put it to use.
Did you have help getting across
because aren't there many checkpoints
even to get close to the border?
No.
Yeah.
I was helped
by workers of human
rights groups in Moscow and elsewhere,
even just civilians who heard my story.
When I was approaching the last post
next to the border.
I was helped by a man from Murmansk
who found a passport of a man
who looked similar to me.
I am very grateful to him
but cannot disclose his identity
for his safety.
The passport helps me to get past
the control post,
and I was able
to get closer to the border.
Why have you agreed to to talk?
Why do you. What message are you trying?
Do you want people to know
about Wagner, about your experience?
---- My idea was to tell the people
what was happening there.
And my mates who died there,
they died under orders.
So my aim
is that the people
who are guilty of these crimes
should be brought to justice.
And when you say the people
who are guilty, who do you mean?
And what are they guilty of?
Yeah.
You know,
I would like to take this opportunity
of stating publicly.
Maybe other folk
have different views about this,
but the first culprit is Prigozhin
because he is the top leader.
Prigozhin runs the Wagner Group.
He's in charge of it.
---- Yes, him.
Absolutely.
And the whole coordinating Wagner lot.
And everyone knows it's subject
to the Russian government's commands.
The whole lot of them.
Does that include Vladimir Putin?
No success in Syria?
Well, everyone knows that
what is happening
there is his decision, of course.
And just finally, Andre,
you lost a lot of,
as you say, mates in the fighting.
What?
What should their mothers know?
What should their families know
about what happened to them?
--- They were great people.
Great because they were real
human beings.
And I can assure you
that many were sober judges
of what was happening out there.
They were just people, normal folk.
And that applied
to the other side as well,
because I had occasion
to see the bravery of the
Ukrainian forces, too.
Andrei, I appreciate your time.
Thank you.
--- Thank you.