A Russian court arrested the former commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, Major General Ivan Popov, on charges of corruption. He was removed from his post in July 2023, reportedly after criticizing the state of the Russian army and high casualties.
The arrest was first reported by Russian telegram channels covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the “Two Majors” channel close to the military and the Gray Zone channel associated with the Wagner PMC .
Later, information about the general’s arrest was confirmed by the press service of the 235th Garrison Military Court. They clarified that Popov is suspected of fraud on an especially large scale. The general faces up to 10 years in prison.
Channels link the criminal case to theft during the construction of defensive structures of the Russian army in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine in the amount of more than 100 million rubles. It is alleged that we are talking about the sale of two thousand tons of metal products for the construction of engineering structures. The general's lawyer told Mash about his client's innocence.
Popov, 49, rose to prominence in July 2023 when he was fired from his post as commander a few months after his appointment. Then a voice message from Popov, sent to his subordinates, appeared in the telegram channel of reserve lieutenant general and State Duma deputy Andrei Gurulev.
According to Popov, he was fired by decree of the Minister of Defense after he criticized the poor performance of the artillery and the resulting high losses in the Russian army. The American Institute for the Study of War wrote that the general demanded from the head of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov a rotation of the military defending positions in Ukraine from the Ukrainian army.
Russian media reported that after Popov’s dismissal, he was assigned to the Russian group of troops in Syria. According to Gray Zone, six months after his appointment, that is, at the beginning of 2024, Popov was returned to Moscow. Already at the airport he was informed about his status as a witness in a criminal case. There were no other details of the case at the time of publication of the news.