By Nerijus Adomaitis and Gwladys Fouche
OSLO (Reuters) -A former commander in Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who is seeking asylum in Norway pleaded guilty on Tuesday to being involved in a fight outside an Oslo bar and carrying an air gun in public.
Andrei Medvedev, 26, crossed the Russian-Norwegian border in January and has spoken out about his time fighting with Russian invasion forces in Ukraine.
Medvedev pleaded guilty to fighting outside the Oslo bar on Feb. 22 and preventing a police officer from doing his or her duty. He also pleaded guilty to carrying an air gun in public on a separate occasion on March 14.
He pleaded not guilty to committing violence against a police officer, the most serious charge he faces, for which the maximum penalty is three years in prison.
“He understands that he was out of hand that evening and consumed too much alcohol and there was a fight with people outside the bar,” his lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, said of the Feb. 22 brawl.
“He does not accept the count of using violence towards a policeman. That was a misunderstanding. He never touched the policeman.”
If convicted, Medvedev would not necessarily be expelled from Norway. Were an asylum seeker to be convicted of a violent crime, immigration authorities told Reuters, a temporary residency permit could still be given.
A spokesperson for the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration declined to comment specifically on Medvedev’s case.
Separately, Medvedev has continued to speak with Kripos, Norway’s criminal police service in charge of investigating war crimes, about his time with the Wagner militia in Ukraine. Russia denies accusations of war crimes in the conflict.
“We wish to continue to question him” as a witness, Kripos said in a statement to Reuters.
Medvedev told Reuters in February he had fought in Ukraine, including in the region around Bakhmut, at the centre of months of fierce battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces that has all but destroyed the city.
Reuters could not independently verify his assertions.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Gwladys Fouche, editing by Mark Heinrich and Nick Macfie)
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