The Ministry of Defense supported the petition of the former commander of the 58th Army of General Ivan Popov to send him to the war from under the investigation, TASS and RIA Novosti reported with reference to the lawyer Popov Sergey Buinovsky. As TASS, Popov asked the Tambov garrison military court to suspend his proceedings in connection with the positive decision of the Russian Ministry of Defense. To conclude a contract with him. Kommersant’s source in power structures said that Popov would not be sent to war as an ordinary attack aircraft, but as a commander of one of the “Storm Z” detachments, which are formed from the investigators and prisoners. Former commander of the 58th Army of the Russian Armed Forces, Major General Ivan Popov was removed from his post in the summer of 2023. He said that he was removed after he reported to the command of the problems of the Russian army and criticized the decisions of the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense. In mid -May 2024, Popov was detained on suspicion of fraud on an especially large scale. According to the investigation, the general was involved in the theft in 2023 more than 1,700 tons of “metal distribution products” worth more than 130 million rubles, which the administration of the annexed Zaporizhzhya region purchased for the construction of defensive structures. On July 15, 2024, the court, at the consequence of the investigation, softened the measure of restraint and transferred it from a bid to house arrest. However, in February 2025, the court returned Popov to the pre-trial detention center due to violations-Kommersant wrote that the general left Tambov without permission, where a judicial investigation was being conducted to Moscow. In March 2025, Kommersant said that Popov had an open letter to Vladimir Putin, saying that he had “undergone unjustified judicial persecution” and asking for “returning it to the system.” In a month, four generals were suspected of receiving bribes for tens of millions of rubles. Another is in fraud. Such a “cleaning” in the Ministry of Defense had not yet been Russian in a month arrested four generals of the three, are suspected of receiving bribes for tens of millions of rubles. Another is in fraud. Such a “cleaning” in the Ministry of Defense has not yet been (Tagstotranslate) News
