On April 24, 2025, russian military court reportedly sentenced former Major General Ivan Popov, a previous commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, to five years in a penal colony on charges of large-scale fraud and forgery in office, related to the sale of military construction materials.
It also stripped him of his military rank, fined him 800,000 rubles (approximately $9,600), and is reported to have rejected his request to return to the front lines in Ukraine, according to the UK Defense Intelligence.
Ivan Popov was dismissed from his post as commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army (deployed to the Zaporizhzhia sector in Ukraine) in July 2023 after his private criticism about the competence of russian defense leadership’s decisions relating to the conduct of the war were publicized. Ivan Popov was subsequently arrested in May 2024 on the fraud charges.
Corruption is endemic in russian system, with punishment more often applied as a political tool than an attempt to enforce good governance.
There is a long history of russian regime using corruption charges, real or invented, to remove or punish internal critics or those who have angered more powerful elite figures.