The Second Western District Military Court reduced the sentence of former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov from 19 to 10 years in a strict-regime colony, lawyer Denis Sagach told Kommersant. According to Sagach, the term was shortened on each of the charges due to the excessive severity of the initial verdict.
In April, the 235th Garrison Military Court sentenced Popov to 19 years in a strict-regime colony, stripped him of the rank of colonel general and seven state awards, and imposed a fine of 85 million rubles. The former official was found guilty of fraud, official forgery, illegal weapons trafficking, two counts of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale, and three counts of abuse of office.
According to the investigation, Popov embezzled 25.8 million rubles allocated for the development of the Defense Ministry's Patriot Park and used the funds to build a country house in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow. In addition, between 2014 and 2024, he received bribes totaling more than 45 million rubles from the general director of OAO Bamstroiput for general patronage during construction work. As a bribe, he was also given a free apartment on Frunzenskaya Embankment in Moscow and a Lexus LX 570 SUV.
The court ordered the confiscation of about 45.7 million rubles from Popov and recovered nearly 33 million rubles under lawsuits from the Defense Ministry and Patriot Park. The former official did not admit guilt.
After the appeal, the defense plans to petition for a medical examination of the 69-year-old Popov to determine the possibility of his release from punishment on health grounds. During the trial, he underwent several spinal surgeries.
Popov served as deputy defense minister for 11 years, until the resignation of then-Minister Sergei Shoigu in May 2024. He was detained in August 2024.