Moscow, April 24 (LaPresse) – The Russian military court of the Tambov garrison has sentenced former commander of the 58th army, Major General Ivan Popov, to five years in prison after finding him guilty of large-scale fraud and falsification of official documents. According to Tass, he has also been stripped of his military rank and fined 800,000 rubles. Specifically, he was convicted of embezzling metal products worth over 130 million rubles, which were intended for the construction of fortifications along the front line in Ukraine. Popov, who had previously criticized Russian military leaders, denied all charges against him. After the hearing, his lawyers stated they would appeal the verdict. Along with Popov, the court sentenced the second defendant in the case, entrepreneur Sergei Moiseyev, to four years in prison and a fine of 600,000 rubles.