The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) reported the suspicion to Russian Major General Ivan Popov. He led the capture of the Kharkiv region in 2022.
Points of attention
- Major General Ivan Popov received suspicion from the SSU for managing the capture of Kharkiv Oblast in 2022.
- Popov commanded the occupation of the Kharkiv region at the beginning of the full-scale war, using barrel artillery and rocket launchers.
- After Popov resigned as military commander, the invaders accused him of widespread fraud.
- A Russian general was arrested in Moscow on suspicion of stealing property worth a significant amount of money, which was used to build fortifications on the occupied territory of Ukraine.
- Popov is in custody in Russia and is awaiting trial in connection with the crimes he committed.
The disgraced Russian General received suspicion from the SSU
According to SSU materials, the Russian general, who commanded the occupation of Kharkiv region at the beginning of the full-scale war, received suspicion. We are talking about Major General Ivan Popov, the commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation.
As noted in the SSU press service statement, he received this military rank and position from Putin for preparing and conducting a military operation to seize part of the Kharkiv region at the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Russia.
At that time, Popov was the chief of staff of the 11th Army Corps of the Baltic Fleet of the Western Military District of the Russian Federation and was the commander of the Balaklia group of Russian troops.
According to the investigation, this army unit of Rashists took part in the capture of the territories of Kharkiv, Chuhuiv and Izyum districts.
During the occupation of part of the region, the invaders spread the Kremlin regime there. For this, Popov coordinated the criminal activities of the military commandant of the Russian Federation in the city of Balaklia, captured at that time.
In addition, the occupying group, under the leadership of the general, regularly shelled Ukrainian-controlled areas of the Kharkiv region, using barrel artillery and rocket salvo systems.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, for waging an aggressive war in May 2023, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Popov received the military rank of "major general". After the liberation of the region, Popov was transferred to the southern front, where he commanded the troops of the Russian Federation in the Zaporozhzhia region and the left bank of the Kherson region.
Popov is on trial in Russia
In July 2023, Popov announced his resignation from his post, allegedly because he raised the issue of the occupiers' lack of counter-battery combat and artillery reconnaissance stations before the higher army command.
In a voice message, the commander of the invaders complained that they were "stab back by a senior commander." It was not specified which one, but the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) claimed that the decision to fire Popov was made by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov.
Almost a year later, in May 2024, Popov was arrested in Moscow on suspicion of a particularly large-scale fraud.
Russian security forces claim that he acted as part of an organised group and stole someone else's property worth 133.6 million rubles (approx. $1.52 million). It is about rolled metal, which the occupiers were supposed to use to construct fortifications in the temporarily occupied south of Ukraine.
The invaders also claim that the criminal group included Oleg Tsokov, the former commander of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation, who was eliminated by a Ukrainian missile strike in July 2023.
Popov is currently in custody in Russia.
