Former Wagner mercenary seeking asylum detained in Finland

A former mercenary of the Russian private military company Wagner, who had applied for asylum, was detained in Finland.

Source: European Pravda; Yle, a Finnish public service media company

Details: The Finnish Border Guard Service has previously reported a man who crossed the border near the town of Kitee in North Karelia on 17 June. Several sources confirmed Yle's information that the man is a Russian soldier named Evgeny.

The man crossed the Finnish border in the Välivaara area, which is located in a forested area and is not blocked by a border fence.

Yle reports that the border guards detected the man using sensors and detained him immediately after he crossed the border.

He has requested asylum in Finland and is currently being held in a temporary detention centre.

The Finnish broadcaster notes that the Russian posted photos and videos on social media confirming his participation in the war against Ukraine. Some of these materials show a Wagner patch on his uniform.

In interviews with Russian propaganda channels, Evgeny spoke about the fighting in Ukraine and claimed that he had voluntarily joined the Russian army in 2022, was trained by Wagner and took part in operations in Bakhmut.

Evgeny describes in one of his interviews how his unit destroyed a vehicle with Ukrainian soldiers in Selydove.

In the autumn of 2024, he disappeared from the public domain, and in February 2025, he published a video in which he sharply criticised the Russian command.

On 30 June, Evgeny again posted a video on the Russian social network Vkontakte criticising the Russian military leadership. Yle reports that the man was already in Finland when the video was published.

The Finnish Central Criminal Police confirmed to Yle that they are conducting a preliminary check on a person who came from Russia and allegedly served in the Wagner ranks.

The police are assessing whether there are grounds to launch a criminal investigation.

At the moment, the Finnish authorities do not suspect Yevgeny of committing war crimes.

Background:

• The Helsinki District Court in Finland found Voislav Tordenin (Jan Petrovsky), the founder and former commander of the Rusich military group, guilty of committing war crimes in Ukraine and sentenced him to life imprisonment on 14 March.
• In February last year, Tordenin was sentenced to two years in prison in Finland for twice violating a ban to enter the country.

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