A Russian court on Thursday sentenced an army commander who criticised Moscow’s top brass while fighting in Ukraine to five years in jail on fraud charges.

Ivan Popov was dismissed in 2023 from his post leading a unit in Ukraine after speaking out about problems within the Russian army and accusing military leaders in Moscow of betraying frontline troops.

He was arrested a year later, part of a sweeping purge of Russia’s defence ministry, on allegations he had stolen material intended to build defensive fortifications in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region.

A court in Russia’s Tambov region on Thursday found him guilty and ordered him jailed for five years, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Prosecutors accused him of stealing “more than 1,700 tonnes of rolled metal products intended for military purposes, and making knowingly false statements that they had been received by military units,” it said.

Russia last year arrested several senior military and defence figures over alleged fraud and bribe-taking, more than two years into Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

Along with his prison sentence, “Popov was also stripped of his military rank,” as a major-general, investigators said.

Popov was commander of Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army fighting in Ukraine.

He said in an audio message at the time that he had been dismissed after drawing the military leadership’s attention to “mass deaths and injuries” among Russian soldiers.

His arrest prompted some criticism from Russia’s influential military bloggers, who praised Popov as a hard-working and respected commander.

Russian state media reported that during the trial Popov had asked the court to send him back to the front line, rather than to jail.

Russia has sent thousands of convicts to fight in its army, offering amnesties in exchange for military service.