Russia's Investigative Committee announced today that it has opened a fraud case against former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov as part of another corruption investigation, Reuters reported, citing BTA.
The court case against Popov, who held this post since 2013 and was released from military service by presidential decree in June this year, is the third investigation against a senior defense official related to the construction of the military theme park "Patriot" near Moscow.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, in the period from 2021 to 2024, Popov, being responsible for the development, maintenance and operation of the park "Patriot", enriched himself at the expense of the park, acting together with the director Vyacheslav Akhmedov and Major General Vladimir Shesterov, deputy head of the Main Directorate for Innovation Development at the Russian Defense Ministry, who were previously indicted and detained earlier this month on suspicion of fraud.
Patriot Park, a major tourist attraction near Moscow, displays a vast collection of Russian and Soviet weapons and offers visitors the opportunity to climb tanks and take part in combat simulations.
Investigators said that since 2021, Popov had been diverting various building materials from the park to his own house for construction and assembly work. Several properties owned by Popov and members of his family, worth more than 500 million rubles ($5.47 million), are being examined as part of the fraud probe, investigators said.
Soon after the first arrests in May of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly removed longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and replaced him with economist Andrei Belousov. It was seen as a move to ensure tighter management of Russia's huge defense budget and stamp out waste and bribery.
67-year-old Popov graduated from a military academy and worked for 17 years in the Russian Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief. Shoigu, now secretary of Russia's Security Council, was head of the same ministry from 1991 to 2012.