Ex-Russian Mercenary Reveals Soldiers 'Shot Dead' For Refusing To Fight

A former mercenary for Russia's infamous Wagner Group, a private military group accused of human rights violations, claimed that Russian soldiers have been shot and killed for refusing to fight in the war against Ukraine.

The allegation was made by former Wagner mercenary Andrei Medvedev, who has fled Russia and crossed into Norway where he is now seeking asylum. Medvedev is the highest-ranking Wagner official to have defected to the West thus far.

"I know cases where prisoners were demonstratively shot dead for refusing to fight or for betrayal. They were showing fighters: 'Here, this is what will happen to you,'" he said, as translated by CNN.

Medvedev also told investigative outlet The Insider that he personally knew of 10 cases where mercenaries were executed by the Wagner Group after they refused to participate in the war. He said he was present for several of those murders, including two cases where the men killed were not former prisoners.

"They were wounded and went to a hospital near Pervomaisk [in the Luhansk region], and from there they tried to escape. They were taken to the border at the checkpoint. The MED group came and shot them," he said, adding that the MED group is responsible for "making people disappear."

Medvedev, who is now in Oslo, said he would likely face the same fate as rebel 55-year-old Yevgenny Nuzhin if he is caught by Russian forces. Nuzhin had been recruited by the Russian army before he changed sides and fought alongside Ukraine. He was killed with a sledgehammer.

Medvedev also noted that he already met with a war crimes investigator in Oslo. He now hopes his testimony will help in the investigation against the Wagner Mercenary Group.

Human rights group Gulagu.net reported that Medvedev joined the Wagner Group on July 6 last year on a four-month contract, which he claimed was extended multiple times without his consent.

Medvedev, an orphan who served time in prison prior to joining Wagner Group, said he decided to leave the group after witnessing several deserters in the group being executed.