Former Wagner mercenary Andrei Medvedev fled Russia, escaping to Norway through freezing conditions and dodging gunfire. Now he's speaking out about Russia's war in Ukraine. CNN's Nic Robertson reports. #CNN #News
Ex-mercenary makes explosive claims about Putin’s ‘chef’
Good to have him as a witnesses, but I have no sympathy whatsoever to these people.
@Luise Kjeldsen I really don’t care about your mom dad or company. Your tears makes me more happy son, keep at it.
@michaelccozens I thought Russia should have crumbled already. Keep feeding yourself propaganda old man
@Simon Paul that excuse didn’t fly in Nazi germany and it won’t fly now
@Simon Paul They can reap what they’ve sown.
@muna Nnadozie The thousands of war crimes committed by Russia are well documented.
“He didn’t commit a crime.”…….about as likely as finding a virgin in a maternity ward.
everyone of the prisoners interviewed are always innocent,,, they didnt shoot,,,,
“about as likely as finding a virgin in a maternity ward.”
More like finding a virgin in a brothel.
@Aus Until Russian war criminals drop a bomb on it, at least.
@MichaelGLall of your comments on cnn videos are pro Russian. We don’t care what you have to say. 😅
@William Lawrencepro Russian comment history
In 1933, the year of Hitler’s accession to power, the fiftieth anniversary of the composer Richard Wagner’s death was celebrated at the Bayreuth festival under the theme ‘Wagner and the new Germany’. The links between the 19th century opera composer and the 20th century dictator existed from the Nazi Party’s beginnings, and were to be strengthened and developed throughout the years of Hitler’s reign.
Tell me about it. I live in Vienna. There are still remainders of Hitler here as well.
BLAH
George Soros financed?
Yup … _that_ Wagner.
Insurance fraud will be the least of the Wagner Group’s concerns when the war crime trials begin
Bottom feeders love this poop. Gather round creepy folk and let’s see this poop festival unravel!
you cant trail Russian citizen they are not afghan or Iraqis. Russia is dangerous foe.
Yep unleash the grandma babushkas, and trust me those dudes will all defect to Bangladesh
Pootie will throw them under the tank!
He should be in custody until the evidence he provides puts a bigger war criminal behind bars.
You are absolutely right!
Also, civic duty might appear and make the world a better place, Peter Pan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I highly doubt this guy has anything of value to add to what isnt already known. He’ll paint any picture he can to portray himself as invaluable only save his own hide.
Clearly he fled because they wouldn’t let him go back to Russia at the end of his contract, and wanted him to fight until he died. That said, he will be useful, both as a witness to crimes, and as a source of intelligence on the Wagner group.
@Leif Goodwin I think it’s more a case of setting that judgment aside while he’s being useful. He may still have stuff to answer for, but in the meantime he can at least partly redeem himself.
Yep, I don’t the usefulness of him however. They’re not very smart and we already know everything so really… I say toss him the book or a hook after figuring out where he was deployed and what war crime he and his squad/brigada 🤷
@Leif Goodwin at this point either view is purely speculative and highly susceptible to prejudice.
@A55hol3 Actualall your cnn comments are pro russia. We don’t care what you have to say 😅
@Leif Goodwin before the war, Wagner was considered a prestigious high paying military job in Russia. Their was alot of limelight shining on them which attracted talent at the time. Now with the war, all that reputation went down a toilet. They are merely a bunch of thugs now.
I think Putin sent him. The Norwegian authorities most likely know exactly what his ” Arctic expedition-Ridiculous mission” is.😅
точно, а в жопе у него стоит чип-передатчик)))
Spy
So this killer for hire wants to save his wretched life by getting asylum in Norway. Fine, send him to Ukraine and let them deal with him. As Wagner is a private company of hired killers, illegal even in Russia, he should not get any Prisoner of War treatment, just that of a mass murderer. He is not telling us anything we do not know already anyway.
I still say that it seems like he was perfectly fine with going to Ukraine and fighting until he got there and saw how bad things were going
Not wanting to die is not objecting to a war
As someone who went to war full of the flush of youthful testosterone, then saw what it really involved and that the reasons our leaders sent us to fight in a foreign land didn’t exactly pan out, I can say that my willingness to fight was somewhat curtailed! Also, being killed by your enemy is one thing, being used as cannon fodder by your own side, that is some pretty messed up crap….
I don’t think it’s impossible that he was blinded by nationalism and propaganda, until reality smacked him in the face of what the Russian war machine really was like and what war itself was really like. Regardless, a defecting/surrendering soldier is great regardless of their motives.
I dont blame anyone who took the deal to get out of jail in turn to fight with the Wagner. In my culture escaping from jail is not always punishable by law. Pursuit of freedom is a human right and sometimes the certain death on the frontline beats what you have waiting for on your life sentence in a mold ridden Russian prison. However I do hope that all those who joined Wagner in an exhance for their freedom see this and realize that you will be betrayed and that the only logical thing to do is to take out your immidiate superior and to escape again. Good luck soldat.
He didn’t commit any crime. He is just a mercenary trying to invade a country. Totally legit job.
Let’s be real – if they had granted him the ability to go home, he’d have kept his mouth shut on all this and enjoyed his status as a war hero from the Wagner group. He’d be telling stories of all he did on the field at a bar somewhere. Lol
Get what you want out of him before he slips out a window, down some stairs or shoots himself in the back 20 times. Maybe even a mysterious poisoning.
He fled because he felt maybe it might help him end up somewhere other than a body bag at the moment. Nothing more to it.
The ex- mercenary has no shame
Former petty criminal he has served time.
Not having a conscience is how civil servants discover they are at war, Cupcake.
His biggest complaints were about how they treated him, not about war crimes, he was ok with that. Send him to a “nice” prison.
Gulok
all prison in Norway is nice
Missing – not deceased? I think the Russian army has done that on an industrial scale withi its own dead – and that this is a new form of warcrime that needs to be in updated Geneva Conventions.
He is affraid for his life, but he wasnt affraid when he was commanding his unite in a mercenary group.
Exactly right. He joined that group volunteerly. He may not killed ruzzians but he definitely committed war crimes against ukrainians
Windows are much more fearsome for Russians than combat.
@Mikhail The poop is unleashed! And you have an opinion?
There’s a much longer interview in Russian in which he spells out the reason for the betrayal. One story is about him watching his friend die and Prigozhin not paying out. It angered him. He wasn’t really concerned about the Ukrainians of course. He doesn’t really seem to fear death but was really ticked off because Putin and his chef lied to everyone and let so many of his comrades die relentlessly. He says he now regrets taking part in his war activities…. of course.
“Highest ranked officer at Wagner group that escaped” He was there for 4 months. Either few escape or he had a fast carerr
Apparently he’s not very high ranking, despite the title of commander.
Ranking up in the russian military or wagner group right now is probably quite similar to starship troopers promotions
@megapro125
*_“…… WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?”_*
🤣
I mean if he can write and read and count to 20 he’s probably smarter than 90% of new Wagner jailboyz
“Didn’t commit a crime”, lol, he still invaded a country as a member of a private military (and only left when he realised his side was losing)
Keep in mind Mevdev is one of those murderers he just fled because he didn’t like the conditions… not the job.