"A pair of cufflinks, valued at more than the entire assets seized from General Ivan Popov, who was investigated and prosecuted."
Yuri Kuznetsov, former head of the Personnel Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense and stripped of his general's rank, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In addition to a piece of land and a residential property, a batch of valuable items and an enormous amount of cash under his name will soon be confiscated as well.
The currently seized assets include: one automobile, silver shoulder boards, a ceremonial sword, 120.19 million rubles, nearly $5 million, 37.4 million euros, 14 wristwatches, cufflinks, tie clips, and various jewelry items.
Analysts point out that another billionaire in military uniform has emerged. The value of just his cufflinks exceeds the total assets owned by General Ivan Popov, former commander of the Russian Army’s 58th Combined Arms Army, who was investigated for abuse of power.
In July 2023, a voice recording of Popov went viral online. In it, he publicly criticized senior Russian military leadership: frontline units lacked anti-artillery equipment, resulting in heavy casualties among troops; after reporting these issues truthfully to his superiors, he was quickly dismissed. He accused higher-ups of stabbing him in the back. On May 21, 2024, Popov was formally arrested on charges of large-scale organized fraud and falsification of official documents.
Ivan Popov, currently serving a five-year sentence, is registered as owning an apartment in Rostov-on-Don, with a maximum valuation of only 6.2 million rubles. In contrast, according to a request by the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office, property worth 500 million rubles belonging to Kuznetsov has been legally confiscated and transferred into state coffers. While detained in pre-trial detention, Kuznetsov also filed appeals claiming he was not getting enough food, resulting in a weight loss of 20 kilograms.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1875914710261760/
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