Who is the disgraced Russian general that Putin fears?

Moscow"Vladimir Putin still suffers from Prigokhin's post-traumatic stress disorder and fears the army," analyst Vladimir Pastukhov told Ekho FM. This Thursday, a military court sentenced Putin to 1,000. the charismatic General Ivan Popov to five years in prison for fraud and forgery, in addition to demoting him, in a case with many shadows. His imprisonment generated a wave of popular support among war bloggers, who see in him a true defender of the homeland unfairly treated, to the point that the Russian president does not dare send him back to war.

Popov, 50, is a veteran of the Second Chechen War and the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008. In July 2023, he was the general of the 58th Army, in charge of the Zaporizhia front, in the midst of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. He was known as Spartacus for his leadership and the esteem in which he was professed by his subordinates, whom he called "gladiators," and he had been recently promoted and decorated.

Then a month ago The failed rebellion of Yevgeny Prigokhin, who had planted himself 200 kilometers from Moscow at the head of Wagner's mercenaries, challenging Putin's authority. Popov sent a highly critical voice message to the chief of staff, Valery Gerassimov, claiming that he had been fired for claiming that many of the deaths on the front line were due to a lack of resources. "The senior officers sensed some kind of danger in me and, in one day, they fabricated an order to the Minister of Defense, issued it and got rid of me," Popov said in the audio.

The general was immediately sent to Syria, a common practice for commanders who disappoint Putin. In early 2024, he returned to Russia, but on May 17, he was arrested amid an army purge, which also ended with the dismissal of Former Defense Minister Sergei Xoigu, whom Popov had also clashed with. He was accused of having enriched himself by selling tons of metal destined for military fortifications valued at more than a million euros, although he has only ever been directly charged with the theft of about 10,000 euros.

Her arrest infuriated the ultranationalist blogger community and those within the military, who did not believe the charges and began a campaign for her release, convinced that it was a conspiracy to oust him. According to political scientist Pastukhov, "it is clear that the case is only a pretext" and that "the sums attributed to him are a pittance." In his view, the persecution is largely explained by "a very deep personal antipathy" toward Gerasimov, who was annoyed by his populism.

Putin's dilemma

Popov has always denied any wrongdoing. In his final statement before the court, he stated that he "had not broken the law" and that he "had remained faithful to the oath, to the people, and to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief." That is, to Putin. So much so that on March 20, 2025, he sent him a letter asking to be reinstated in the army.

His lawyer even announced that he had signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense to return to fight in Ukraine in exchange for a suspension of his criminal proceedings. But his fate was poisoned. He was placed in charge of a detachment made up of prisoners, who, according to military analysts, are primarily engaged in suicide attacks. Now, the government unexpectedly halted his transfer with the implausible argument that there were "no vacancies" for generals. The lawyer has already announced that they will appeal the sentence.

For Pastukhov, Putin faces the dilemma of sending Popov to almost certain death (he could say he was killed by a Ukrainian drone) or risking his survival and a revival of his popularity. The analyst points out that if, instead of Prigokhin, the 2023 mutiny had been led by someone from within the army like Popov, things might have ended differently. "They are not afraid in vain," he concludes.