Andrei Medvedev, who escaped Russia in January via its Arctic border with Norway, has described running as Russian guards fired shots at him. He has spoken about his time fighting in Ukraine as part of the Wagner group.
"He was up there to see if he could find the place where he crossed . He was stopped when he was in a taxi. He was never near the border ... It was never his intention to cross the border ," Risnes said. His escape in January made headlines around the world as a rare example at the time of someone defecting to a Western country while claiming to have fought for Russia as a mercenary in the Ukraine war.
Risnes said Medvedev had the right to return to Russia if he wanted to, but that"a lot of changes need to happen" in order to make a safe return.