The Investigative Committee demanded that former commander of the 58th Army Ivan Popov be released from pretrial detention to house arrest

An investigator has filed a motion with the court to release Ivan Popov, former commander of the 58th Army, from a pretrial detention facility, the Investigative Committee reported . The serviceman is being asked to be transferred to house arrest.

The agency also confirmed the plot of the fraud case, which was previously reported by Z -channel “Two Majors”.

According to the investigation, the major general “was involved in the theft in 2023 of more than 1,700 tons of rolled metal products purchased by the military-civil administration of the Zaporizhia region <…> for equipping engineering defensive structures on the line of combat contact” (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code).

The damage was estimated at more than 130 million rubles.

The "Two Majors" claimed that the case also involved "an entrepreneur from Krasnodar Krai" who "sold purchased material assets outside the region" and "a high-ranking official [of the Southern Military District]." They were not mentioned in the Investigative Committee's report.

As commander of the 58th Army, Popov fought in the war with Ukraine. In 2023, the major general recorded an audio message in which he said he had been removed from his post after reporting on problems at the front, and sharply criticized Russia's military leadership.