Earlier today, a military court in Moscow sentenced former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov to 19 years in prison, according to a report by the state-controlled news agency TASS. The newspaper RBC reported that Judge Artem Karpov found Popov guilty of fraud, illegal possession of weapons, forgery of official documents, accepting bribes, and abuse of authority. The case was related to the development of “Patriot Park,” the Russian Defense Ministry’s military-themed recreation area in the Moscow suburb of Kubinka.
Popov was stripped of his state awards and his rank of colonel general. He was also fined 85 million rubles ($1.1 million). Prior to sentencing, prosecutors requested that Popov receive a 22-year sentence in a maximum-security penal colony and a fine of 130 million rubles ($1.7 million). The 69-year-old former officer took part in the hearing remotely, as he is currently hospitalized. In connection with his poor health, Popov was allowed to remain in bed during the announcement of the sentence.
Popov was detained and arrested in the summer of 2024. The hearing on his pretrial detention was held behind closed doors due to the “risk of disclosing investigative secrets and information about the course of the special military operation.”
According to the prosecution, between 2021 and 2024 Popov compelled contractors from Patriot Park to carry out renovation work at his country home without pay. Investigators consider Patriot Park director Vyacheslav Akhmedov and Vladimir Shesterov, head of the Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate for Innovative Development, to be accomplices in Popov’s crimes. They were previously sentenced to six and five years in prison, respectively.
