- Russian troops withdraw from Norway border in drop since start of Ukraine war: official Fox News
- Russian forces near Norway at ‘20% or less’ than before Ukraine war – Norway’s armed forces chief Yahoo News
- NATO military chiefs meet in Oslo to discuss defense plans, support for Ukraine Anadolu Agency | English
- Russian forces near Norway are 20% fewer than before Ukraine war – Norway’s armed forces chief ThePrint
- Russian forces near Norway at ‘20% or less’ than before Ukraine war, Norway’s armed-forces chief says Reuters
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Women’s World Cup proceeds after shooting in Auckland; New Zealand, Norway players hold minute’s silence – The Athletic
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- Deadly shooting in Auckland, New Zealand hours before Women’s World Cup – BBC News BBC News
- Gunman who killed two people just yards from Women’s World Cup stadium pictured Daily Star
- Psychologist: Shooting in Auckland may have prolonged psychological impacts on Kiwis Newstalk ZB
- 3 dead including suspect after shooting before Fifa Women’s World Cup in New Zealand South China Morning Post
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Indian film starring Rani Mukherji upsets Norway; Oslo protests ‘factual inaccuracies’ – Hindustan Times
- Indian film starring Rani Mukherji upsets Norway; Oslo protests ‘factual inaccuracies’ Hindustan Times
- After SRK, Gauri Khan sends love to Rani Mukerji on release of Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway; Drops an UNSEEN PIC PINKVILLA
- Mani Shankar Aiyar responds to Norway’s Ambassador: ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway’ is not an attack on a country, but a call to reconsider its child protection system The Indian Express
- Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway slammed by Norwegian govt: Child welfare not driven by profit WION
- ‘Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway’: Fact Or Fiction? NDTV
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Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway trailer: Rani Mukerji impresses as anguished mother, Alia Bhatt says ‘I’m weeping’ – The Indian Express
- Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway trailer: Rani Mukerji impresses as anguished mother, Alia Bhatt says ‘I’m weeping’ The Indian Express
- Rani Mukherjee’s ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway’ Is Based On This Indian Couple’s Story NDTV
- Rani Mukerji Starrer ‘Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway’ Trailer Out! WATCH Mobile News 24×7
- What is Ariha Case? After Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway trailer release, netizens de True Scoop
- Rani Mukerji’s Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway Trailer Gives Alia Bhatt, Sonam Kapoor And Other Stars “Goosebumps” NDTV Movies
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Former Wagner Group commander who fled to Norway arrested by police | Norway
Andrey Medvedev, a former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who recently fled to Norway, has been apprehended by police, he told the Guardian on Monday.
Medvedev’s Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes said that the police decided to apprehend Medvedev on Sunday evening after a “strong disagreement” with the former Wagner soldier over living conditions at the safe house where he had been living since he arrived in Norway.
“He was staying on a voluntary basis at the safe house. If he refuses to be there, they have to either let him go or detain him,” Risnes said.
Risnes added that Medvedev was now being moved to the temporary detention centre.
“I will try to speak to the police and we will obviously find a solution,” the lawyer said.
Medvedev, in a brief phone call with the Guardian, confirmed he had been apprehended, and expressed worries that he would be deported to Russia.
Earlier on Monday, Norwegian police announced Medvedev was in custody.
“He is apprehended … and we are considering whether to seek a court’s decision for internment,” Line Isaksen of the Norwegian police told Reuters, declining to give further details.
Medvedev, 26, crossed the border into Norway on 13 January, where he applied for asylum.
Before fleeing, Medvedev said that in Ukraine he had witnessed the summary killing of Wagner fighters accused by their own commanders of disobeying orders, sometimes in pairs.
He said he was ready to tell everything he knew about the Wagner Group, its activities and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Medvedev is the first known soldier from the Wagner Group who fought in Ukraine to flee abroad.
The US said last Friday that Wagner, which has played a central part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, would be designated a significant “transnational criminal organization”.
Andrey Medvedev, ex-commander in Russia’s Wagner group, seeks asylum in Norway
Medvedev’s Norwegian lawyer also told the AP that his client is seeking asylum in the country. The lawyer did not respond to a Washington Post request for comment Monday night.
Last week, police said an individual, whom they identified only as a foreign national, was arrested after illegally crossing into Norway from Russia early Friday. The two countries share a 123-mile-long border.
Reuters, citing the Russian human rights organization Gulagu Net, reported that Medvedev fled the Wagner Group after witnessing its capture and execution of members who deserted the group.
The shadowy Wagner Group was founded by business executive Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who, until Russia launched the Ukraine war, had denied any connection to the group. Prigozhin is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s. Wagner has been accused of carrying out atrocities in countries including Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Mali.
According to U.S. assessments, Wagner has deployed 50,000 fighters in Ukraine — 40,000 of them convicts recruited directly from Russian prisons with the offer of a pardon in exchange for six months’ service. It is unclear how Medvedev joined the group.
Earlier this month, a member of Russia’s Human Rights Council said Putin had secretly pardoned dozens of convicts before they were deployed to Ukraine.
This is not the first report of a Wagner member fleeing the group. Last year, Yevgeny Nuzhin, a 55-year-old murder convict who was released from prison to fight in Ukraine, gave interviews after defecting to Ukrainian forces.
In November, however, an unverified video was shared on a Wagner-linked Telegram account appearing to show his brutal killing with a sledgehammer. It was not clear who carried out the purported execution or when, but a Ukrainian presidential adviser was quoted as saying that Nuzhin had agreed to return to Russia voluntarily. According to Medvedev’s statements to Gulagu Net, quoted by Reuters, Nuzhin had been a member of his unit.
Norway, a NATO member, says it has provided hundreds of millions of dollars of humanitarian and military support to Kyiv since the Russian invasion was launched almost a year ago.
Last year, Norwegian authorities arrested at least seven Russians for flying drones or taking pictures near sensitive areas. Among those arrested was a son of a close associate of Putin’s.
Former Wagner Group commander seeking asylum in Norway | Russia
A former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner Group has sought asylum in Norway after deserting the organisation that has played a central role in some of the major battles of the Ukraine conflict.
Andrey Medvedev, 26, crossed the border into Norway near the Pasvikdalen valley shortly before 2am last Friday, where he was arrested and detained by border guards.
The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) confirmed to the Associated Press that Andrey Medvedev sought shelter in the country but “for reasons of security and privacy … cannot comment further on this matter”.
Police, who did not confirm his identity, said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that a man was “detained by Norwegian border guards and Norwegian police at 1.58am (0058 GMT)” on Friday morning.
“He has applied for asylum in Norway,” said Tarjei Sirma-Tellefsen, chief of staff for the police in Finnmark, northern Norway.
Medvedev’s Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, told the BBC that Medvedev was being held in Oslo where he faces charges of illegally entering the country and that he deserted after witnessing war crimes in Ukraine.
Risnes said his client was no longer in custody, but at a “safe place” while his case was being analysed. “If he gets asylum in Norway that accusation [of illegal entry] will be dropped automatically,” Risnes said.
“He has declared that he is willing to speak about his experiences in the Wagner Group to people who are investigating war crimes,” the lawyer said, adding that Medvedev alleged he had served as a unit commander in charge of between five and 10 soldiers.
Norwegian police said they were notified late on Thursday by Russian border guards who discovered traces in the snow that could indicate that someone had crossed the border illegally. The man was detained by border guards and the arrest was undramatic, police said.
Medvedev’s lawyer told AFP on Monday that after crossing the border his client had sought out locals and asked that they call the police.
Medvedev has been on the run since he defected from the Wagner Group on 6 July, according to Norwegian news agency NTB.
He told a Russian human rights group that he was ready to tell everything he knows about the Wagner Group, its activities and its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin confirmed to the BBC that Medvedev was a former Wagner soldier.
In an interview with the Gulagu.net rights group, Medvedev said he grew disaffected after his contract was repeatedly extended by Wagner without his consent and witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners who were brought to the front by Wagner.
Medvedev said losses were very high after Wagner began sending large numbers of prisoners to the front in the second half of 2022. Wagner’s internal security service handed out extreme punishment, Medvedev said.
He said a man who was shown in November being executed with a sledgehammer had been part of his unit.
Prigozhin’s statement did not address Medvedev’s accounts of punishment and of battlefield losses, or that his contract was repeatedly extended.
Gulagu.net also published an interview with Medvedev, where he detailed his dramatic escape. “When I was on the ice [at the border], I heard dogs barking, I turned around, I saw people with torches, about 150 metres (500ft) away, running in my direction,” Medvedev says in one video. “I heard two shots, the bullets whizzed by.”
According to Risnes, Medvedev said “he experienced something completely different from what he was expecting” after joining the private mercenary group, which has been at the forefront of key battles in Ukraine.
Wanting to leave and after claiming he witnessed war crimes in Ukraine, Medvedev said his contract was extended without his consent. “He understood that there was no easy way out, so that’s when he decided to just run,” Risnes said.
Medvedev then reportedly spent two months underground in Russia, before crossing the border into Norway last week.
The Guardian has not been able to independently verify Medvedev’s account.
The Wagner Group includes a large number of convicts recruited in Russian prisons who have spearheaded attacks in Ukraine. The group has become increasingly influential in Africa, where it has been pushing Russian disinformation, building alliances with regimes and gaining access to oil, gas, gold, diamonds and valuable minerals.
The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
Andrei Medvedev: Former Wagner commander flees to Norway
CNN
—
A former commander in Russia’s Wagner private military company has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum after crossing that country’s arctic border, according to Norwegian police and a Russian activist.
Andrei Medvedev, in an interview with a Russian activist who helps people seek asylum abroad, said that he feared for his life after refusing to renew his service with Wagner.
Medvedev said that after completing his contract, and refusing to serve another, he was afraid of being executed in the same manner of Yevgeny Nuzhin – a defector from Wagner who was killed on camera with a sledgehammer.
“We were just thrown to fight like cannon fodder,” he told Vladimir Osechkin, head of Gulagu.net, a human rights advocacy group, in a conversation published on YouTube.
A spokesperson for Norway’s Police Security Service confirmed to CNN Monday that Medvedev was in Norway and seeking asylum.
“This is so far a local police investigation,” Eirik Veum told CNN. “But the Security Service, we are informed, and follow the investigation of course.”
The mercenary group, headed by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, has emerged as a key player in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – recently doing much of the fighting in the small eastern town of Soledar.
The group is often described as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s off-the-books troops. It has expanded its footprint globally since its creation in 2014, and has been accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine.
Medvedev said that he crossed the border near the Russian town of Nikel, in a phone call from Norway with Osechkin, which was published online.
The account aligns with that of the Finnmark Police District, who without naming Medvedev, said that it made an “undramatic” arrest of a man in Pasvik on the Norwegian side of the border at 1.58 a.m. on Friday, January 13.
In his own account, Medvedev said that he crossed the border and approached the first house he could find.
“I told a local woman in broken English about my situation and asked for help,” he told Osechkin in the phone call. “While I was on the road, I was approached by the border force and police. I was taken to a department, where I was questioned and charged with illegal crossing. I explained to them everything and told them why I did it.”
“It was a miracle I managed to get here,” he said.
Medvedev had previously tried to cross into Finland twice and failed, Osechkin told CNN Monday.
The head of Wagner, Prigozhin, confirmed on Telegram Monday that Medvedev had served in his company, and said that he “should have been prosecuted for attempting to mistreat prisoners.”
In a December conversation with Osechkin, which was published on YouTube, Medvedev denied that he had committed any crimes in Ukraine.
“I signed a contract with the group on the 6th of July 2022. I had been appointed commander of the first squad of the 4th platoon of the 7th assault detachment,” he recalled. “When the prisoners started arriving, the situation in Wagner really changed. They stopped treating us like humans. We were just thrown to fight like cannon fodder.”
“Every week they sent more prisoners to us. We lost a lot of men. Casualties were high. We would lose 15 to 20 men just in our platoon. As far as I know, a majority of them were buried in LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] and declared missing. If you are declared missing, there is no insurance pay-out to the relatives.”
He claimed that prisoners were “shot dead for refusing to fight, or betrayal.”
“I am afraid for my life,” he said in December. “I did not commit any crime. I have refused to participate in maneuvers of Yevgeny Prigozhin.”
Osechkin told CNN Monday that he began helping Medvedev after being approached by a friend at the end of November.
Prigozhin, he explained, had ordered all contracts to be automatically renewed starting in November. When Medvedev refused to renew, he was beaten, Osechkin claimed.
“Andrei decided to leave Wagner,” Osechkin told CNN. “Once this happened, he became wanted by security services of Wagner and Russian special services. There was a threat to his life.”
“He was afraid he will be executed in the same manner as Yevgeny Nuzhin – with a sledgehammer. We, as human-rights defenders, decided to help him and protect his life.”
Osechkin said that he helped Medvedev with groceries, clothes, and a telephone.
“We are not trying to justify his actions in relation to his participation in Wagner Group. But it should be understood that he decided to flee Wagner Group as terrorist organization which kills both Russians and Ukrainians.”
The ‘world’s largest floating wind farm’ produces its first power
Offices of Equinor photographed in Feb. 2019. Equinor is one of several companies looking at developing floating wind farms.
Odin Jaeger | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A facility described as the world’s largest floating wind farm produced its first power over the weekend, with more turbines set to come online before the year is out.
In a statement Monday, Norwegian energy firm Equinor — better known for its work in the oil and gas industry — said power production from Hywind Tampen’s first wind turbine took place on Sunday afternoon.
While wind is a renewable energy source, Hywind Tampen will be used to help power operations at oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Equinor said Hywind Tampen’s first power was sent to the Gullfaks oil and gas field.
“I am proud that we have now started production at Hywind Tampen, Norway’s first and the world’s largest floating wind farm,” Geir Tungesvik, Equinor’s executive vice president for projects, drilling and procurement, said.
“This is a unique project, the first wind farm in the world powering producing oil and gas installations.”
Hywind Tampen is located around 140 kilometers (86.9 miles) off the coast of Norway, in depths ranging from 260 to 300 meters.
Seven of the wind farm’s turbines are slated to come on stream in 2022, with installation of the remaining four taking place in 2023. When complete, Equinor says it will have a system capacity of 88 megawatts.
Alongside Equinor, the other companies involved in the project are Vår Energi, INPEX Idemitsu, Petoro, Wintershall Dea and OMV.
Equinor said Hywind Tampen was expected to meet around 35% of the Gullfaks and Snorre fields’ electricity demand. “This will cut CO2 emissions from the fields by about 200,000 tonnes per year,” the company added.
The use of a floating wind farm to help power the production of fossil fuels is likely to spark some controversy, however.
Fossil fuels’ effect on the environment is considerable and the United Nations says that, since the 19th century, “human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.”
Speaking at the COP27 climate change summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last week, the U.N. Secretary General issued a stark warning to attendees.
“We are in the fight of our lives, and we are losing,” Antonio Guterres said. “Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing, global temperatures keep rising, and our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible.”
An emerging industry
Equinor said the turbines at Hywind Tampen were installed on a floating concrete structure, with a joint mooring system. One advantage of floating turbines is that they can be installed in deeper waters than fixed-bottom ones.
Back in 2017, Equinor started operations at Hywind Scotland, a five-turbine, 30 MW facility it calls the world’s first floating wind farm.
Since then, a number of major companies have made moves in the sector.
In Aug. 2021, RWE Renewables and Kansai Electric Power signed an agreement to assess the feasibility of a “large-scale floating offshore wind project” in waters off Japan’s coast.
In Sept. of that year, Norwegian company Statkraft announced a long-term purchasing agreement relating to a 50 MW floating wind farm — which it has also dubbed the “world’s largest” — off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland.
And a few months later, in Dec. 2021, plans for three major offshore wind developments in Australia — two of which are looking to incorporate floating wind tech — were announced.
Earlier this year, meanwhile, the White House said it was targeting 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by the year 2035.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is launching coordinated actions to develop new floating offshore wind platforms, an emerging clean energy technology that will help the United States lead on offshore wind,” a statement, which was also published by U.S. Department of the Interior, said at the time.
As well as the 15 GW ambition, a “Floating Offshore Wind Shot” aims to reduce the costs of floating technologies by over 70% by the year 2035.
“Bringing floating offshore wind technology to scale will unlock new opportunities for offshore wind power off the coasts of California and Oregon, in the Gulf of Maine, and beyond,” the statement added.
Norway raises military alert level amid drones, Russia’s war in Ukraine
“Today, we have no reason to believe that Russia will want to involve Norway or any other country directly in the war. But the war in Ukraine makes it necessary for all NATO countries to be more vigilant,” he told a news conference Monday.
The change in military alert level includes having some troops spend less time on training and a heightened focus on “maritime surveillance,” Norwegian Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said. Watching over the North Sea and protecting oil and gas installations “is a high priority,” Gram told reporters. Norway’s Home Guard, a rapid mobilization force, will also boost its presence, officials said without elaborating about the security changes.
The drone sightings in recent weeks prompted a Norwegian intelligence investigation and the detention of at least seven Russians — including the son of an associate of President Vladimir Putin — for flying drones or taking photos in certain zones. The unmanned aerial vehicles were reported around Norway’s airports and its offshore oil and gas fields, a pillar of the country’s economy.
Norway, now a vital natural gas supplier in Europe, and other countries have sought to tighten security around key infrastructure since the September explosions that hit the Nord Stream pipelines, built to carry natural gas from Russia through the Baltic Sea. European leaders blamed sabotage, and Norway’s armed forces have since said they have increased naval operations in the North Sea alongside NATO forces.
The Norwegian prime minister cast the drone sorties this month as “foreign intelligence,” indirectly pointing to Russia. Norwegian authorities have said the goal of the drones may be to trigger fear, reassuring citizens of an overall low risk of attack.
Following the announcement of the heightened alert level, Norway’s prime minister told a reporter that people would probably not notice big changes in their daily lives, and that it would be most visible along the coast and at facilities where the Home Guard is stationed.
Fears of a spillover from the war in Ukraine have pushed Nordic countries to reinforce their borders with Russia, and Norway’s neighbors, Sweden and Finland, to apply to join the NATO defense alliance in a tectonic shift with strong U.S. backing.
Emily Rauhala and Sammy Westfall contributed to this report.