Popov had enriched himself while overseeing the construction of the army-themed Patriot Park outside Moscow between 2021 and 2024, and then forced companies linked to the park to "carry out work in his country residence without paying for it.”
Russia began arresting defence officials in April, shortly before Putin replaced Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu with economist Andrei Belousov on May 12, 2024.
Other arrests:
April 23, 2024: Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov is charged with bribery.
May 14, 2024: Lieutenant General Yury Kuznetsov (who heads the Defense Ministry’s personnel directorate) is charged with bribery.
May 17, 2024: Army General Ivan Popov is charged with bribery. Popov previously served as commander of the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army.
May 23, 2024: Lieutenant-General Vadim Shamarin (who heads Russia’s General Staff’s communications directorate) is charged with bribery.
July 24, 2024: Defense Ministry construction company chief Andrei Belkov is arrested for abuse of power.
July 26, 2024: Former Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov is arrested on corruption charges.
Aug. 5, 2024: Head of the army’s theme park Vyacheslav Akhmedov and Major General Vladimir Shesterov are charged with fraud.
Aug. 6, 2024: Former head of the military’s clothing supply department Colonel Vladimir Demchik is charged with bribery.
by Glass-Photograph-117
16 comments
Just another effort to keep any chance of a coup to occur.
Want them to arrest each other until nobody’s on position…🤣
There are a lot of deputies there. As they say when the shit hits the fan deputy heads will roll
Yeah we know
Band of Brothers in Crime…
Just wondering here, are all these high ranking arrests just an excuse so their assets can more easily be confiscated?
I think this is a normal thing, everyone in charge in Russia cuts his part from the cake and the new minister brings his own friends and family in and therefore the former guys have to go…
So Popov’s popped off?
>head of the army’s theme park
Well, I didn’t have Major Generals getting arrested at military themed amusement parks on my bingo card
Setting up a cadre of scapegoats to blame the loss of the war, perhaps?
Arrested for abuse of power? Oh, now you know they lying and making shit up to purge some guys. It’s Russia, nothing works without bribes and abuse.
This is why in Russia you must be a criminal to get a position of power – Putin wont trust anyone he doesn’t have dirt on and if he feels you could be a threat now or in the future, he will just expose the crime (in which he made them participate) and prosecute to his heart’s content.
Crooks arresting crooks.
Of all the blunders Putin could have made, dismissing Popov from the 58th guards army has to rank as among the biggest. He was the most competent commander that Russia has had since the invasion began and was actually well regarded by the troops serving under him; a trait that is often considered an anomaly among Russian generals.
He supervised the orderly withdrawal from Kherson and fought a number of delaying actions, saving the bulk of Russia’s forces in that region from total annihilation. These forces would later to be used to man the Surovikin line.
Taking Popov out of the picture entirely is good news for Ukraine.
Everyone in Russian power is corrupt. This is just the bureaucratic mechanism to make personnel changes
They need to arrest the whole regime