The Russian general was arrested after a report on problems at the front

The 235th garrison military court arrested the former commander of the 58th combined arms army, Major General Ivan Popov on charges of fraud on an especially large scale. He was removed from his post in July 2023 after the report on the poor condition of the Russian army and high losses. The arrest was the first to report to the two Majors channel and the Greey Zone Channel Channel Channel Channel Channel Channel .

Later, information about the arrest of the general was confirmed by the press service of the court. They specified that Popov was suspected of fraud on an especially large scale. The general threatens up to 10 years in prison.

The channels associate a criminal case with theft during the construction of defensive structures of the Russian army in the Zaporizhzhya region of Ukraine worth more than 100 million rubles. It is claimed that we are talking about the sale of two thousand tons of metal products for the construction of engineering structures.

General’s lawyer Sergei Buinovsky said that Popov did not plead guilty. The defense appealed to the arrest. The final accusation to the general has not yet been charged.

The 49-year-old Popov was fired from the post of commander in July last year, a few months after his appointment. Then, in the telegram channel of the general of the reserve, State Duma deputy Andrei Gurulev, Popov’s voice message appeared, directed by his subordinates.

According to Popov, he was fired by the decree of the Minister of Defense after he criticized the poor artillery work and the following high losses in the Russian army. The American Institute for the Study of the War wrote that the general demanded that the head of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov rotation of the military, defending positions in Ukraine from the Ukrainian army.

Russian media reported that after the dismissal of Popov, they appointed troops in Syria to the Russian group. According to Grey Zone, six months after the appointment, that is, in early 2024, Popov was returned to Moscow. Already at the airfield, he was informed him of the status of a witness in a criminal case.

• Popov became at least the third general arrested on charges of criminal case since April. On April 24, the court arrested the Deputy Minister of Defense, General Timur Ivanov on suspicion of receiving a bribe. Ivanov was supervised by the military construction complex.
• On May 14, another senior official was detained - the head of the Main Directorate of the personnel of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov. He is also suspected of a criminal offense.