It was on the night of Friday 13 January that Andrej Medvedev crossed the border to Norway.
He is a former commander of the Russian fighting force Wagner group - and that he wants to testify against them.
However, how he managed to get to Norway is shrouded in mystery.
He did it at Pasvik in Finnmark - an area where it is impossible to cross without being detected, according to several Norwegian defense experts.
- It is extremely difficult to cross that border, especially in winter when footprints are visible.
Here we are talking about dogs, border guards, physical obstacles and digital surveillance, says Tom Røseth, head teacher at the Staff School at the Norwegian Defense Academy to Dagbladet.
Extremely difficult to cross the border
Andrej Medvedev himself has said that he received help without going into more detail about how and by whom.
Therefore, Røseth is convinced that he must have received help from Russian border guards.
Palle Ydstebø, lieutenant colonel at Krigsskolan, is on the same line.
He states that it is no secret that officials in Russia can be corrupt.
- So it is absolutely a real possibility that he has bribed the border guards.
It may also happen that he has received help from someone with good knowledge of the place to get information about when and where it is safe to cross the border, he tells Dagbladet.
Want to testify against the Wagner group
Medvedev himself has previously described how the guards chased him during the escape.
- The bullets whizzed past me.
I broke the phone and threw it in the forest.
I ran, ran and ran.
On my way across the river I felt the ice give way beneath me.
The guards did not follow.
They were apparently afraid that the ice was too thin, Medvedev has previously told Dagbladet.
Andrej Medvedev has said he defected from the Wagner group when his contract expired.
He has been taken to Oslo where his details are now being reviewed.
Medvedev has sought asylum in Norway and says he wants to testify against what he describes as Wagner Group war crimes in Ukraine.
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A man who claims to be a Russian mercenary from the Wagner group has made it to Norway where he sought asylum.
Hear his testimony about the escape from Russia in the clip.
Photo: NRK/EVN/RIA Novosti