Former Russian major general arrested on suspicion of fraud

Major General Ivan Popov, the former commander of Russia's 58th Army, was arrested on May 21 on suspicion of fraud, the state-run media outlet TASS reported.

Several high-level Russian officials have been arrested in recent weeks on corruption-related charges. In what was likely the highest-profile corruption case in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested in April on charges of bribery.

Popov was arrested as part of a wider investigation involving large-scale fraud, TASS said.

The military court and law enforcement agencies confirmed his arrest but did not provide any more details.

Popov was dismissed from his position in July 2023 after he reportedly bypassed the command of Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and attempted to directly appeal to the Kremlin over grievances about the lack of rotation of his troops and other poor conditions on the battlefield.

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