Major General Ivan Popov, who is under house arrest in a criminal case of fraud and forgery, was not notified of his early discharge from military service, TASS reported today, August 12, citing lawyer Sergei Buinovsky.
"No one has notified us," the lawyer replied to the agency's question.
Earlier, a copy of the decree of the Minister of Defense of Russia Andrei Belousov on the dismissal of Popov to the reserve began to spread on the Internet. An extract from Belousov's order on personnel dated June 2 states that the length of service of the Popova is 39 years old on a preferential basis, and the general himself was dismissed from military service "in connection with organizational and staff activities."
Popov is charged with committing crimes provided for in two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: fraud on an especially large scale (Article 159) and official forgery, which entailed a significant violation of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, organizations or legally protected interests of society or the state (Article 292). He does not admit his guilt.
Popov was arrested on May 17, and on July 15 the military court granted the request of the investigation and transferred him to house arrest.
According to investigators, he was involved in the theft in 2023 of more than 1,700 tons of rolled metal products purchased by the military-civil administration of the Zaporozhye region in order to provide humanitarian assistance. The general is charged with fraud and forgery in the amount of just over 1 million rubles.
According to the investigation, he acted as part of an organized group together with Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov and businessman Sergei Moiseev. Tsokov died in the zone of a special military operation in the summer of 2023 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia. His case was terminated posthumously. Moiseev was kept in jail, then the court also changed his measure of restraint to house arrest.