Yan Petrovskiy (36) is a Russian citizen, who lived in Norway between 2004 and 2016. Here he was involved in a far-right environment in Eastern Norway. In 2016, Petrovskiy was expelled because the Norwegian authorities believed he was a danger to the security of the kingdom. Petrovskiy goes by the nickname “Nordmannen” and constantly uses Norwegian and Norse symbols and references. The 36-year-old is in the leadership of the notorious group “Rusich”, which has fought on the Russian side in Ukraine. SWEDISH WEAPON: This photo shows Yan Petrovskiy with the Swedish AT4 anti-tank weapon. Sweden has given such weapons to Ukraine, but here it has ended up in the wrong hands. Photo: TELEGRAM American authorities describe Rusich as a neo-Nazi paramilitary group, which is connected to the much talked about mercenaries in Wagner. In September last year, Petrovskiy was put on the sanctions list of the Ministry of Finance in the USA, accused of being in the management of Rusich. STORM GROUP: Yan Petrovskiy (left) and Alexei Milchakov are leaders of the militia Rusich, which has fought on the Russian side in Ukraine in 2022 and in 2014. Rusich stands for the Russians’ sabotage, storm and reconnaissance group. Photo: Screenshot / Rusich Appeared in Finland In July this year, Petrovskiy surprisingly appeared in Finland. Petrovskiy is also on the EU’s sanctions list – yet he traveled to the new NATO country. The Russian had received a residence permit in Finland under the name Voislav Torden. But when Petrovskiy tried to board a flight to France, Finnish border police are said to have suspected him, according to YLE. With the help of facial recognition tools, they discovered that Torden was in reality Yan Petrovskiy, and that he had an entry ban to, among other places, Norway. In connection with the arrest, Finnish authorities have also asked Kripos to share information about Petrovskiy. Tone Lill Solstad heads the Section for International Crimes (Sif) in Kripos. Photo: Kripos – I can confirm that we have been contacted by the Finnish police after the arrest. They were aware that he had been expelled from Norway and wanted to know what was the basis for that, says section leader of Kripos Tone Lill Solstad to news. – May be shot Now the militia leader is in Finnish custody – awaiting a possible extradition to Ukraine. On Thursday last week, his imprisonment was extended, the district court in Finland confirms to news. Ukrainian authorities will investigate him for having participated in a terrorist organization in Ukraine. They have therefore asked to have him extradited. IN UKRAINE: In April 2022, Rusich announced that they were participating in “war missions in the Kharkiv region”. news recognized Petrovskiy in several anonymized photos published by the group. Photo: Screenshot / Telegram Petrovskiy’s defender, lawyer Heikki Lampela, tells news that he cannot go into detail about what his client is accused of. – He is accused of having done something bad in Ukraine. He himself says that it is not true, Lampela tells news. Now the Finnish Ministry of Justice will decide whether Petrovskiy should be extradited. According to the lawyer, the 36-year-old has asked to be sent to Russia. – Ukraine and Russia are enemies. To send him to Ukraine in this situation – it is clear that he is in danger if they send him there. Then he will probably be shot, says Lampela to news. The Ukrainian authorities have so far not responded to news’s inquiry about the matter. Accused of atrocities The background for the petition from Ukraine is supposed to be activities Petrovskiy carried out while he had a residence permit in Norway. Telegram accounts associated with Rusich have recently shared a document that appears to be a petition from the Ukrainian authorities to Finland. The document states that Petrovskiy is being investigated by the security service of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It was to these areas that Petrovskiy traveled as a foreign warrior while living in Norway. In 2014, he participated in the fighting in eastern Ukraine and documented it on social media. Among other things, he posted a picture of himself in front of a burning corpse. BRENNER: Petrovskiy lived in Tønsberg when he traveled between Ukraine and Norway in 2014. The Norwegian Russian said he was deputy commander in Rusich and posted such photos on social media. Behind Petrovskiy lies a man on fire. Photo: Rusich / VK The picture is said to be from September 2014. Then Rusich is said to have attacked a convoy with around 40 soldiers from the paramilitary Ukrainian group Aidar. In an interview with the Frieord website in 2015, Petrovskiy recounted the attack, saying: “We don’t take prisoners from volunteer battalions.” After the same attack, the other leader of the group, Alexei Milchakov, is said to have been pictured holding up a severed ear, according to DFRLab. – Burned and killed everyone The following year, the Ukrainian newspaper Pravda published a video recording in which Petrovskiy and Milchakov talked about an attack. – No one survived. We burned and killed everyone, Petrovskiy said in the video from 2015. US authorities justify sanctioning Rusich, among other things, that the group is accused of and has been filmed while carrying out “atrocities against dead and captured Ukrainian soldiers”. Killing soldiers who surrender may be against international law and may be a war crime. Desecrating corpses can be the same. Not investigated in Norway news, via the Ukrainian embassy in Norway, has asked Ukrainian prosecutors what specific crimes Petrovskiy is accused of, but has so far not received an answer. Already in 2017, the Ukrainian authorities approached the Norwegian authorities to obtain information about the Norwegian-Russian. This is now confirmed by Kripos. – We were contacted by Ukraine via a court request, but by then Petrovskiy had already been expelled from Norway, says Solstad in Kripos to news. Solstad says that Kripos never started a separate investigation against Petrovskiy. – Among other things, Petrovskiy posted a picture of himself in front of a deceased burning man while he was staying here. Why wasn’t that sufficient? – We made an assessment about this image which was openly available, but there are certain criteria for opening an investigation. Then it was probably considered by the Section for International Crimes that it was not sufficient, says Solstad and adds: – We have seen the information that has been produced now in retrospect. Then the assessment would probably be different, with the information that is now available, says the section manager. news has previously told that Petrovskiy has also been a mercenary in Syria. NAZI SALUTE: Rusich has posted this photo from Palmyra in Syria. Petrovskiy has previously told news that “the squad has tasks in those areas”. Photo: Private Then the Norwegian-Russian fought on President Bashar Al Assad’s side in the civil war. Assad is supported by Russia. In Syria, too, Petrovskiy has described murders, which according to the Red Cross may be violations of the international law of war.
ttn-69
Kripos contacted about Norwegian-Russian neo-Nazi – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
