Russian Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a hard-nosed paratrooper officer, will take command of a high-risk assault unit in Ukraine in exchange for having criminal charges threatening him with years in prison dropped by state prosecutors, Russian and independent news platforms said Tuesday.
A commander popular with Russian troops for tactical skill and speaking his mind, Popov will end more than a year of arrest pending fraud charges to take command of a Storm-Z detachment operating in Ukraine, the pro-Kremlin Kommersant magazine reported, citing government security agency sources.
First created by Russian army leadership to feed fresh infantry into casualty-heavy battles like urban fighting or assaults on fortifications, Storm-Z detachments are made up of soldiers thrown out of their old units, felons inducted into the military, debtors or other civilians facing criminal charges, and rear area troops too poor or lacking sufficient influence to avoid frontline service.
A Tuesday appeal hearing in the 2nd Western Military Court on charges faced by Popov since May 2024 was canceled, and on Wednesday, Popov signed a military contract that, per current Russian law, would end the government case against him, the Kommersant report said.
News reports said Popov would serve as a commander rather than a low-ranking fighter in a Storm-Z unit. It was not clear from reports both in Russian and Ukrainian media what size Storm-Z detachment Popov would take command of, or where on the combat line he would deploy.
Storm-Z detachments deployed to combat in Ukraine typically number between 10-500 men. During the defensive battles in Zaporizhzhia, Popov commanded 58th Combined Arms Army, a full-on major fighting formation estimated by Ukrainian intelligence to number 40-50,000 men.
Vladimir Rogov, a Kremlin-friendly military writer/commentator, said of Popov’s transfer to a combat command and news of charges against him being dropped: “The legendary Spartak (Russian – Спартак: Spartacus) is returning to the front! ...And it’s high time for those responsible for outrages against General Popov to realize that the Russian people, like our national leader, is not a fool, he understands everything and will solve all problems!”
“Thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) for a fair decision! Thank God for everything! Back to work, brothers!” Rogov said.
The official Russian news agency TASS on Wednesday, in a short statement, confirmed Popov’s impending transfer to a combat unit.
Ukrainian information platforms said that Popov would be transferred to the front quickly and that Storm-Z formations are units frequently given dangerous attack missions. The usually staid mainstream UNIAN news agency reported: “It’s just like in the movies: An Assault General”
Popov made his military reputation in June 2023 at the head of 58th Army and its defeat of a Ukrainian offensive heavily armed with hundreds of NATO-nation-delivered tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.
Soldiers on both sides have credited Popov for deft deployment of minefields, anti-tank missile teams, helicopter gunships, and massed artillery that stopped and quickly turned back Kyiv’s biggest offensive of the war so far. A career soldier with a reputation as a tough commander who looks out for frontline troops, Popov first saw combat during the Second Chechnya War.
A Ukrainian counter-offensive exploiting a thinly manned Russian line badly defeated troops commanded by Popov in the north-eastern Kharkiv sector in September 2022. Popov subsequently accused top army command of ignoring his repeated warnings that Russian forces were dangerously thin on the ground.
Popov, in Fall 2023, came into open conflict with the Kremlin by declaring, in public, that an aborted military coup against the Kremlin led by mercenary commander Yevgeniy Prigozhin was partially justified because Prigozhin’s men had suffered heavy losses because of ignorant and unskilled top military commanders, and official Moscow’s failure to deliver artillery support and shell supplies to the front as promised.
A former cook to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin had led the powerful Wagner corps at the time. Prigozhin died in an aircraft crash in Belarus later that year. Some Russia political observers have claimed Popov as a popular general, might become a focus for opposition to President Putin, but, even while under arrest, Popov has maintained he is a Russian patriot and a loyal soldier who respects the chain of command.
Military prosecutors arrested Popov, along with an alleged accomplice named Sergei Moiseyev, in May 2024 for purportedly stealing 1,700 tons of construction materials purchased by the Russian government for the construction of fortifications, and selling it to civilian traders for the equivalent of $1.32 million. He was initially held under house arrest, but in February 2025 prosecutors moved him to pre-trial detention.
Popov has denied all wrongdoing and claimed enemies in the General Staff trumped up the charges to punish him for speaking out about their incompetence. In March, Popov sent Putin an open letter requesting he be allowed to volunteer for combat service. Popov’s lawyer Sergei Buinovskiy on Wednesday told reporters Popov “was grateful for the trust the president has placed in him.”