The Russian Investigative Committee requests the arrest of former Deputy Defense Minister Popov
Former Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, Army General Pavel Popov, has been detained, and investigators intend to seek his arrest. According to the Investigative Committee, the fraud case is related to the Patriot Park.
The general is accused of fraud on an especially large scale. According to the investigation, in 2021-2024, he, being responsible for the development, maintenance and operation of the Patriot Park, enriched himself at the expense of this institution – he used building materials for construction in his country house in the Krasnogorsk district and forced park employees to work at a three-hectare dacha for free. According to the Investigative Committee, the director of the park Vyacheslav Akhmedov and the deputy head of the Main Directorate for Innovative Development of the Ministry of Defense Vladimir Shesterov were also involved in the fraudulent scheme. As Mash specifies, Popov was detained based on their testimony. Both said that they received money following the general’s orders and paid him about three million rubles.
In addition to the plot in the Moscow region, the detainee owns numerous other real estate properties in prestigious areas of Moscow, the Moscow region and the Krasnodar region, with a total value of more than 500 million rubles.
The general built a mansion in the Krasnogorsk region [Московской области] using Patriot’s money, he forced contractors to build, improve and maintain his three-hectare hacienda
The spouses have property There were also two cars – a Mercedes A200 passenger car and a Volkswagen Tiguan, registered to the general’s wife. Popov faces up to ten years in prison for the fraud case.
Another General Accused of Embezzlement Placed Under House Arrest Due to Health Problems
In early August, it was reported that the court had placed Major General Vladimir Shesterov under house arrest. The defendant will remain under arrest at his home in the Ruzsky District of the Moscow Region until September 21. It was also noted that the park’s director, Akhmedov, and General Shesterov are cooperating with the investigation.
They are charged with embezzling more than 30 million rubles of budget funds. According to the Investigative Committee, the money was stolen by paying for uncompleted work and undelivered goods. According to the investigation, the fraud was committed from the fall of 2022 to July 2024. As Kommersant wrote, both defendants fully admitted their guilt in fraud on an especially large scale. Akhmedov was placed in a pretrial detention center, and his alleged accomplice was placed under house arrest due to health problems.
Elite real estate found in Shesterov and Akhmedov’s possession
In 2017, Shesterov owned a 35.3 square meter apartment and a Skoda Yeti. His income for 2017 was 3.076 million rubles. The following year, he purchased a Harley Davidson XG750 motorcycle, and his income also amounted to about three million rubles. In subsequent years, the general acquired a 71 square meter apartment.
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At the same time, Mash found out that Shesterov and his wife own a plot of 1.2 thousand square meters with a two-story house in the summer cottage village “Tsarskoye Selo” in the Moscow region and a plot of 1.5 thousand square meters in an elite gated community on the territory of the Luzhki holiday home.
Meanwhile, Patriot director Akhmedov ended up owning three apartments in the capital – on Bolshaya Sadovaya, Levoberezhnaya and Zelenogradskaya streets. In addition, the family owns an apartment in the military settlement of Mulino in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
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