Putin’s crackdown continues with the arrest of former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov. The Investigative Committee has charged Popov, who was removed from his role in June after 11 years, with fraud.
At 67, Popov faces up to 10 years in prison. State-run news footage shows him arriving at a Moscow court in handcuffs. His arrest is part of a larger anti-corruption sweep within the Putin’s Russian Ministry of Defense, which has seen eight officials detained since April. This includes the dismissal of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in May. Economist Andrei Belousov took over.
Popov is has an accusation of misusing funds allocated for Patriot Park, a military theme park near Moscow, from 2021 to 2024. Putin’s investigative Committee revealed that Popov and his family own several high-value properties in Moscow. Also, the Moscow and Krasnodar regions, totaling over 500 million rubles.
Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, noted that Popov’s arrest is a significant blow to Shoigu. The purge also recently led to the arrest of former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov on bribery charges.
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