General becomes a scapegoat? The arrest of General Popov, who complained about heavy losses in Ukraine, sparked outrage among war supporters.
As the Telegraph reports, a general who criticized the military leadership for high losses in Ukraine was arrested in Russia. The arrest of General Ivan Popov, who was detained on corruption charges, has caused outrage among pro-war bloggers in Russia. Popov was fired last July after he complained about “mass deaths and injuries” of Russian soldiers in Ukraine and later accused military chiefs of “brutally beheading” the army.
Popov, 49, a former commander of Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army in Ukraine, is now suspected of “large-scale fraud,” according to the Telegraph. A military court ordered him to be held in custody for two months.
Popov was popular with Russian troops, especially at a time when they were being heavily criticized by Russia’s military and political leadership over perceived failures in the invasion of Ukraine. He championed their complaints about a lack of equipment, poor intelligence and a lack of troop rotation.
“General Ivan Popov is not a thief. He is a soldier,” Alexander Sladkov, war correspondent for Russian state television, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Pro-Russian military blogger Yuri Podolyaka also spoke out in favor of Popov. Podoljaka wrote: “General Popov had the courage to confront the superiors with things that others, timidly lowering their eyes, kept silent about.”
Against this background, it was said that the Russian Defense Ministry has undertaken a major restructuring under re-elected President Putin. Several senior defense officials, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, were fired or arrested for corruption.