Serious questions have been raised as to how, exactly, a psychiatric patient managed not only to escape but to make it out of Russia without being caught.

“It’s funny – they tell us that he’s totally insane and all he does is scream and yell in reply to any question. However, he managed to cross two borders, and he brought his weapon along,” says Dmitry Demuskin, former leader of the banned Slavic Union, whose members frequently visited Datsik in detention.

Currently under arrest in Norway, the former fighter’s fate now rests on whether he’ll be extradited back to Russia or whether he’ll be granted the political asylum he’s hoping for.

Stein Akre, a journalist in Norway, says the question of granting Datsik asylum has not even been raised in Norway thus far, adding that the authorities are wary of promoting any growth of neo-Nazi sentiment.

“The Norwegian authorities are afraid that the Nazi and far-right extreme environment will grow here in Norway,” Akre said. “We had a problem with that 10-15 years ago, but for the last five-six years it’s been non-existent.”