Media reports and telegram channels regarding the sending to the front of the ex-commander of the 58th Army Ivan Popov, accused of allegedly stealing more than 1.7 thousand tons of rolled metal in 2023, turned out to be premature. This was stated by military blogger Yuri Podolyaka, who from the very beginning defended the innocence of the general, but did not name the one by whose order the general was being tried.
"Unfortunately, everything is not as rosy as all our media reported today,— writes Podolyaka. — No one is going to any front. And General Popov, despite the fact that the prosecution could not prove anything (and even find the injured party), the prosecutor's office demanded 6 years. Plus the deprivation of the title (as for me, this is the main thing for the Customer). As far as I understand the situation, while the president understands it, those who created it just want to finish everything to the end. Well, and then, as we often do, put everyone in front of the fact. This is what I see. I really hope I'm wrong. But so far it looks that way."
As reported by EADaily, the majority (68%) of the survey participants conducted in August 2024 on our agency's website believe that for the good of the cause it would be possible to send three former military commanders removed from command to the SMO zone at once: Ivan Popov, Igor Strelkov and Sergei Surovikin.
At the same time, General Sergei Surovikin has the highest rating (22%), who, after the mutiny of the Wagner PMC in August 2023, was relieved of his post as commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces and no longer appeared in public. Major General Ivan Popov (6%) and former DPR Defense Minister Igor Strelkov (4%), who is serving a sentence in one of the colonies "for calls to extremism", are by a wide margin from him.