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DESPERATE Vladimir Putin has redeployed his banished "best military brain" who is dubbed the Spartacus in the latest snub against Trump.
Major-General Ivan Popov, 50, had been kept in detention on "trumped up charges" but is now being sent by the tyrant as an assault commander to the frontline to "crush" Ukraine.
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Popov was sidelined and locked up after he savagely criticised mad Vlad's high command in the war - including overall army chief General Valery Gerasimov.
The Putin puppet - otherwise known as Spartacus - has been widely dubbed as Russia's best military brain and is said to have unprecedented popularity in the ranks.
Popov's return marks the latest sign that tyrant Putin has no intention of agreeing to a ceasefire - despite Trump pushing for peace in war-torn Ukraine.
Popov was only allowed back in the bloody war after making a desperate, personal appeal to Putin, calling him his "moral guide and role model" whilst promising his loyalty.
He described how mad Vlad had "made me finally understand what the legendary words ‘cold mind, hot heart and clean hands’ mean."
Popov told Putin: "I have been subjected to unfounded prosecution and, contrary to my wishes, as well as the current situation in the [war] zone, I was dismissed from the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces."
He then pathetically pleaded with the tyrant to return him to duty, which then happened today via a court decision.
Popolov added: "I want to continue to crush the enemy in accordance with the oath I took."
Spartacus' problems with Putin began after he told his troops in 2023 that the Russian army's "own senior commander hit us from the rear," in turn "treacherously and vilely decapitating the army at the most difficult and tense moment".
He told his soldiers: "I was honest with you from the start, I was always open with you, cutting the distance between soldier and general.
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“Because we all die the same, we fight, struggle, feel fear and pain the same.
“So I am telling openly that I got into a hard situation with the senior army chief [Gerasimov].”
He also didn't hold back in slamming the “mass death and mutilation of our brothers from the enemy’s artillery” and voiced his blunt criticism directly to Russia’s high command.
Initially he was removed from his command of the 58th Combined Arms Army by ex-defence minister Sergei Shoigu, before being sent to a command with Russian forces in Syria.
Later he was detained and accused of large-scale corruption - charges that have widely been perceived as fake.
'Putin must be slapped with strict peace deadline'
by Martina Bet and Jerome Starkey
VLADIMIR Putin must be slapped with a strict peace deadline to end his deadly games in Ukraine, Keir Starmer said.
The PM issued his warning as European allies met in Paris to step up deployment plans to enforce any peace deal.
Britain, France, and Germany will send military chiefs to Kyiv for talks on creating a multinational force to ensure Russia sticks to any ceasefire.
Sir Keir accused Putin of stalling negotiations to buy time.
He declared: “They are playing games and they’re playing for time. It’s classic from the Putin playbook.”
While he stopped short of setting a precise deadline, he made clear he wants progress “in days and weeks, not months and months”.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Putin is not ready for direct talks.
"He wants war, and what can a man who wants war say at peace talks? I’m not going to swallow his narrative. I’m not interested.”
Asked about US envoy Steve Witkoff’s comments that sending troops to Ukraine would be absurd, Mr Zelensky said: “For us, these people are from another planet.”
And when asked what he thought of any progress, he said: “The world moves slower than the country at war. It is going slowly — but I can’t push anyone.”
In a rare criticism of Moscow, Donald Trump said Russia might be “dragging their heels” at talks.
But Mr Zelensky demanded the US needed to get stronger against Vladimir Putin.
He was initially held in custody, then put under house arrest and consequently banned from taking walks.
Forged documents were used to falsely accuse him of corruption, says his legal team.
Popov will soon be back on the frontline and taking charge of storm troopers, comprising prisoners and those accused of serious crimes.
It comes as shocking evidence revealed that China could be sending troops into Putin's meatgrinder.
Zelensky claimed that Kyiv found six Chinese nationals fighting in the Donetsk region of Ukraine and took two of them prisoners - but this is just the "tip of the iceberg".
Military analyst Michael Clarke said that the reported arrest of two Chinese soldiers could be "very serious indeed" as it could mean that, contrary to its official claims, China is backing Russia militarily.
Clarke said that if Chinese soldiers are operating on state orders it would cross "quite a big legal line".
He said: "That would mean that the Chinese are sending individuals to fight in a contested area to join an invasion of a foreign country."
The military expert added: "The Chinese would pretend that that isn't the truth. And the Russians would say that Donetsk is Russian territory, but legally, of course, it isn't.
"It's Ukrainian territory, and it has been since 1991."
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English (US) · 