Ivan Popov

Former Commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation

General Biographical Information

• Ivan Popov was born on January 30, 1975 in Danilovsky District, Volgograd Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
• In 1992, he entered the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School.
• In 2015, he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
• In 2023 he was awarded the rank of Major General.
• He participated in the second Chechen war, the Russian-Georgian war, the Russian military operation in Syria, and the Russian military aggression in Ukraine.

Military Career

• After completing his studies, Popov was appointed as a platoon commander of the 56th Guards Air Assault Regiment in the North Caucasus Military District. As part of the Regiment, he took part in the second Chechen War.
• Popov served in the North Caucasus Military District. During this period, he participated in the Russian-Georgian war. After that, he served in the National Defense Management Center.
• In 2015, after graduating from the Military Academy, he was the Commander of the 33rd Guards Rifle Division in the Republic of Adygea.
• In 2015-2017, he was the Commander of the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the Head of the Volgograd garrison.
• As of May 2018, he was the Chief of Staff of the 22nd Army Corps of the Black Sea Fleet in the annexed Crimea and concurrently the Head of the Simferopol garrison.
• By May 2022, at the time of the start of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, he was the Chief of Staff of the 11th Army Corps of the Baltic Sea Fleet in the Kaliningrad region.
• In June 2022, he headed the Russian military forces in the Balakliia region, which had to retreat as a result of Ukrainian counterattack in September. Despite the unsuccessful military operation Popov was awarded the rank of major general in March 2023.
• In June 2023, he became the Commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, which was responsible for the Zaporizhzhia front in Ukraine. (Popov replaced Mikhail Zusko as the Commander of the 58th  Army, whose fate is unknown. There is a legend among the military that in the first months of the war in Ukraine, the 58th Army suffered heavy losses due to Zusko's fault. It is not known exactly when Zusko was dismissed and, accordingly, when he was replaced by Popov .)
• On July 11, 2023, it was reported on the Telegram channel that Popov was removed from command because he demanded rotation in his subordinate units, which led the leadership to accuse him of sowing panic and blackmail. On July 12, a State Duma Deputy, Andrei Guruliov, who previously commanded the 58th Army, posted Popov's voice message addressed to his subordinates on his Telegram channel. As the message says Popov was dismissed after he informed  the leadership about problems in the Russian army.