FALCON POWERS – Russian news agencies, citing a military court in Moscow, reported that Russian General Ivan Bobov, the former commander of the 58th Army unit fighting in Ukraine who was dismissed last year, “was arrested on May 17 on suspicion of large-scale fraud,” specifying that he would be temporarily detained for at least two months. The general faces up to ten years in prison under Russian criminal law.
Since the end of April, two senior army officials, Timur Ivanov and Yuri Kuznietsov, have been arrested on corruption charges, while Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was replaced by economic expert Andrei Belousov.
According to the pro-Russian military blog “Dva Majora,” Bobov is accused of embezzling and selling 100 million rubles ($1.1 million) worth of aid intended for his forces. Bobov’s lawyer denied the allegations, stating that the officer’s assets are much lower than this. The defense is demanding his acquittal.
Major General (49 years old) Bobov commanded the 58th Army unit, which played a key role in the occupation of the Ukrainian coastal city of Mariupol, and was in the Zaporizhzhia region when Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in 2023. After Bobov’s forces suffered heavy losses, he criticized the war’s management and called for the rotation of combat units to offset his army’s losses, but did not question the legitimacy of the Russian invasion itself.
In July 2023, just days after the failed Wagner mutiny, Bobov said in an audio message that he was dismissed after drawing the Russian military leadership’s attention to several issues. In the recording, he said “I have no right to lie,” referring to “mass deaths and injuries” among Russian troops in Ukraine and the lack of artillery reconnaissance centers. Without naming those he was talking about, he added that “we were stabbed in the back by one of our top leaders who treacherously and ignobly cut off the head of the army in the most tense and difficult times,” in an apparent reference to Russian General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov.
The Telegram channel “Grey Zone,” believed to be associated with the Wagner group and followed by nearly half a million accounts, reported that Bobov was dismissed after speaking with Gerasimov, who accused him of “deception and intimidation.”
