The 235th Garrison Military Court arrested the ex-commander of the 58th Army Ivan Popov. The general is suspected of fraud amounting to about 100 million rubles. The case mentions scams during the construction of military facilities. How does the general live?
What is Ivan Popov accused of?
The general was arrested on May 17, he is accused under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) (fraud committed by an organized group on an especially large scale). The investigation believes that Ivan Popov and his accomplices sold metal received as part of humanitarian aid intended for the construction of engineering structures of the 58th Army. The case involves about two thousand tons of structures. Among Popov’s accomplices are an unnamed Kuban businessman and an officer of the Southern Military District. Preliminarily, the amount of damage is estimated at 100 million rubles.
How Popov made a career in the RF Armed Forces
Ivan Popov is 49 years old and comes from the Volgograd region. Until recently, it was customary to talk about a military man with the call sign Spartak as the fastest growing commander in terms of career.
Hereditary career military man, graduated from the Moscow Higher Military Command School in 1992. After studying, he commanded a platoon in the 56th Airborne Regiment of the North Caucasus Military District. As part of the regiment he took part in the second Chechen campaign.
After this, he graduated from the Combined Arms Academy and was sent to the operational department of the headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District, where he took part in the Russian-Georgian military conflict on 08/08/08. Subsequently he served at the National Defense Management Center.
In 2015, after graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff, he was appointed commander of the 33rd separate motorized rifle brigade in Adygea. Later he commanded the 20th separate guards motorized rifle brigade of the Southern Military District in Volgograd, served as chief of staff of the 22nd Army Corps of the Black Sea Fleet and at the same time head of the Simferopol military garrison.
What Popov noted during the SVO
In May 2022, after the start of the Northern Military District in Ukraine, he was appointed chief of staff of the 11th Army Corps of the Baltic Fleet, and already in March 2023, Popov headed the 58th Army operating in the Zaporozhye region.
According to experts, the operational formation of the Russian Ground Forces was one of the most combat-ready units that were part of the Southern Military District.
However, Popov was later sent to Syria – in January of this year it became known that from there he was summoned to Moscow to testify in a case of abuse of power while serving as commander of the 58th Army.
At the same time, there were rumors in circles close to the Ministry of Defense that the removal from office and the opened case could have arisen due to a conflict between the general and “senior commanders” from the ministry: Popov allegedly criticized the actions of the leadership. His dismissal should have taken place at that time, but for some reason this did not happen.
How General Popov lives
Life found out that, at least formally, Popov lives modestly. In addition to registering in various military units, in recent years the general could be found at an ordinary nine-story panel building on Kachintsev Street in Volgograd.
In Moscow, Popov occupied an apartment in a new high-rise building on Academician Anokhin Street in the capital’s Troparevo-Nikulino district. Here he had an apartment with an area of 81.5 square meters at his disposal. Perhaps this housing was for service purposes, since there are no offers on the market for the purchase/sale of apartments in this complex. In neighboring houses, housing of the same area is estimated by sellers at approximately 33 million rubles.
The military man also drove ordinary cars. Popov could be seen driving a budget Chevrolet Cruze, and later two Mitsubhi Outlander SUVs.
What do Russian military bloggers and politicians say about the general’s arrest?
In his Telegram channel, the famous first Ukrainian and now Russian blogger Yuri Podolyaka wrote the following:
Former people’s deputy of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, later speaker of the parliament of Novorossiya Oleg Tsarev said that he was very sorry: