Ukraine did not file suspicions against the occupiers Medvedev and Filatiev, who fled to Europe
As of July 2025, Ukraine has not served any suspicions on the former Wagner Group militant Andrei Medvedev and former Russian paratrooper Pavel Filatiev, who fled Russia for Europe. This was stated in response to a LIGA.net request by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Prosecutors from the Department for Combating Crimes Committed in the Context of Armed Conflict of the General Prosecutor's Office are investigating, in a separate criminal case, the involvement of Filatiev and Medvedev in the commission of war and other crimes, the agency said.
Currently, they have not been suspected of committing war crimes, the General Prosecutor's Office noted.
A notice of suspicion is required to initiate the extradition procedure.
Medvedev is a former Wagner mercenary who, according to his own admission, fought against Ukraine back in 2014, and in 2022 participated in the battles for Bakhmut and commanded a platoon section of an assault group of terrorists. In January 2023, he fled from Russia to Norway, saying that he "feared for his life" after witnessing the murders and cruel treatment of Russian prisoners recruited into Wagner.
In 2023-2024, the local criminal police and the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's Office informed LIGA.net that Kyiv had not filed any charges or requested the extradition of Medvedev.
In September 2023, Medvedev illegally attempted to flee to Russia, allegedly fearing extradition. At the same time, local criminal police told LIGA.net that no such requests had been made and that he was free to travel to the Russian Federation. In early February 2024, Norway denied Medvedev asylum, but he received a temporary residence permit in the country, which can be renewed.
In March 2024, the General Prosecutor's Office told LIGA.net that the Security Service of Ukraine is investigating the participation of Wagner Group terrorists, including Medvedev himself, in the Russian-Ukrainian war, and that the Norwegian side partially fulfilled Kyiv's requests to interrogate the former terrorist as a witness to war crimes, but Kyiv did not issue any charges against him.
In the summer of the same year, Medvedev received a four-month Norwegian prison sentence for beating his girlfriend and assaulting a bartender.
Filatiev is a former serviceman of the Russian Airborne Forces who fought against Ukraine for two months in 2022. In August of that year, he began publishing a book about the war, "ZOV," condemned Russian aggression, and later that same month emigrated to France. According to his own words, Paris granted him political asylum, and the French agency for refugees and stateless persons refused to disclose information about the Russian to LIGA.net due to confidentiality.
Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of the Russian "opposition" project Gulagu.net, who helped Filatiev with the publication of the book and emigration, accused the former soldier of concealing "information about the murders of Ukrainians in whose detention he participated."
- In October 2024, the Prosecutor General's Office reported that 133 Russian war criminals had received actual court sentences, but only about 20 invaders had actually received their punishment.
- The Office of the Prosecutor General informed LIGA.net that Ukrainian law enforcement officers cooperated with their Finnish colleagues during the investigation of war crimes committed by Russian neo-Nazi Petrovsky, who received a life sentence in 2025.
