The Russian general who built his country house with stolen money just found Moscow’s courts capable of mercy after all

Pavel Popov, a former Russian deputy defense minister, has had his prison sentence reduced from nineteen years to ten, Meduza reports. He was originally sentenced in April twenty twenty-five on charges including fraud, bribery, and abuse of office, specifically for embezzling twenty-six million rubles to build a country house. His attorney welcomed the reduction as a show of leniency, though Popov has maintained his innocence throughout his case. The ruling is part of broader corruption investigations within Russia's Defense Ministry, where at least nineteen officials have faced criminal charges since defense minister Sergei Shoigu stepped down in May twenty twenty-four.

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