One of Russia's most respected generals was arrested on charges in corruption after admitting that military commanders “behead“ the country's army, reported The Telegraph.
49-year-old Major General Ivan Popov openly took the liberty of criticizing Russia's military leadership after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and such sincerity is not viewed favorably in the federation. The soldier was arrested for “corruption”, which caused a wave of outrage among pro-military Russian bloggers.
Ivan Popov was fired in July last year after complaining about the “mass death and injuries” of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. He later accused military chiefs of a “grim beheading of the army”. On Tuesday, Russian state media reported that Major General Popov, who previously commanded Russia's 58th General Army in Ukraine, had been arrested on suspicion of “large-scale fraud”.
A military court left him in custody for two months, RIA Novosti reported. The reaction of the Z-bloggers, according to whom Popov was wrongly overthrown, was not long in coming. The general was popular among his subordinates and it was because of his actions that the Ukrainian counter-offensive failed in the summer of 2023.
Commander Ivan Popov in the summer of 2023 built an excellent defensive line and actually saved our army from defeat and the country from shame, says a military blogger.
Ivan Popov criticized Russia's military commanders for being unprepared at the start of the invasion, lacking equipment and intelligence, as well as troop rotation. “Popov had the courage to speak in the eyes of his superiors about those things that others, shyly lowering their eyes, preferred to remain silent”, they say about him. Putin began a purge of the Russian army, removing Minister Shoigu from office. This happens in the third year after the full-scale invasion.
Against this background, another arrest was reported in the federation today. In Russia, the deputy chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, was detained on suspicion of taking large bribes, Russian media reported. This is the latest in a series of arrests of senior military officials. Newspaper "Kommersant" reported that Shamarin was detained in connection with an alleged fraud and that his home was searched. This is the fourth arrest of a high-ranking official in the field of defense since April, when Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was taken into pre-trial detention on suspicion of taking a bribe, Reuters notes.