Former Wagner commander describes brutality, incompetence on frontline

A former Wagner mercenary says the brutality he witnessed in Ukraine in the end pushed him to defect, in an unique CNN interview on Monday.

Wagner fighters have been usually despatched into battle with little course, and the corporate’s remedy of reluctant recruits was ruthless, Andrei Medvedev informed CNN’s Anderson Cooper from Norway’s capital Oslo, the place he’s in search of asylum after crossing that nation’s arctic border from Russia.

“They would round up those who did not want to fight and shoot them in front of newcomers,” he alleges.

A former Wagner mercenary says the brutality he witnessed in Ukraine ultimately pushed him to defect, in an exclusive CNN interview on Monday.Wagner fighters were often sent into battle with little direction, and the company's treatment of reluctant recruits was ruthless, Andrei Medvedev told CNN's Anderson Cooper from Norway's capital Oslo, where he is seeking asylum after crossing that country's arctic border from Russia. — A former Wagner mercenary says the brutality he witnessed in Ukraine ultimately pushed him to defect, in an exclusive CNN interview on Monday.Wagner fighters were often sent into battle with little direction, and the company’s treatment of reluctant recruits was ruthless, Andrei Medvedev told CNN’s Anderson Cooper from Norway’s capital Oslo, where he is seeking asylum after crossing that country’s arctic border from Russia. (CNN)

“They brought two prisoners who refused to go fight and they shot them in front of everyone and buried them right in the trenches that were dug by the trainees.”

CNN has not been capable of independently confirm his account and Wagner has not replied to a request for remark.

The 26-year-old, who says he beforehand served within the Russian army, joined Wagner as a volunteer.

He crossed into Ukraine lower than 10 days after signing his contract in July 2022, serving close to Bakhmut, the frontline metropolis within the Donetsk area.

The mercenary group has emerged as a key participant in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Medvedev stated he reported on to the group’s founders, Dmitry Utkin and Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

He refers to Prigozhin as “the devil.”

“If he was a Russian hero, he would have taken a gun and run with the soldiers,” Medvedev stated.

Prigozhin has beforehand confirmed that Medvedev had served in his firm, and stated that he “should have been prosecuted for attempting to mistreat prisoners.”

Medvedev informed CNN that he didn’t wish to touch upon what he’d accomplished himself whereas combating in Ukraine.

Wagner lacked a tactical technique, with troops arising with plans on the fly, Medvedev stated.

“There were no real tactics at all. We just got orders about the position of the adversary.

“There have been no particular orders about how we must always behave.

“We just planned how we would go about it, step by step.

“Who would open hearth, what sort of shifts we’d have…How it the way it how it could prove that was our downside,” he said.

Medvedev spoke to CNN from Oslo after crossing its border in a daring defection that, he says saw him evade arrest “not less than ten occasions” and dodge bullets from Russian forces. He crossed into Norway over an icy lake using white camouflage to blend in, he said.

He told CNN that he knew by the sixth day of his deployment in Ukraine that he did not want to return for another tour after witnessing troops being turned into cannon fodder.

He started off with 10 men under his command, a number that grew once prisoners were allowed to join, he said. “There have been extra lifeless our bodies, and extra, and extra, folks coming in.

“In the end I had a lot of people under my command,” he stated.

“I couldn’t count how many. They were in constant circulation. Dead bodies, more prisoners, more dead bodies, more prisoners.”

Advocacy teams say prisoners who enlisted have been informed their households would obtain a pay-out of 5 million rubles ($101,000) in the event that they died within the battle.

But in actuality “nobody wanted to pay that kind of money,” Medvedev stated.

He alleged that many Russians who died combating in Ukraine have been “just declared missing.”

Medvedev was emotional at occasions within the interview, telling CNN that he noticed braveness on each side of the battle.

“You know, I saw courage on both sides, on the Ukrainian side as well, and our boys too… I just want them to know that,” he stated.

He added that he needs to now share his story with a purpose to assist deliver Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin to justice.

“Sooner or later the propaganda in Russia will stop working, the people will rise up and all our leaders …will be up for grabs and a new leader will emerge.”

Wagner is commonly described as Putin’s off-the-books troops.

It has expanded its footprint globally since its creation in 2014, and has been accused of battle crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine.

When requested if he fears the destiny meted on one other Wagner defector, Yevgeny Nuzhin, who was murdered on digicam with a sledgehammer, Medvedev stated Nuzhin’s demise emboldened him to depart.