Ruslan Popov has spent all his adult life in the prosecution service. His career began at the age of 21 as an interim assistant and then as an investigator at the Leova District Prosecution Office. In 1998 he obtained a post at the Buiucani District Prosecution Office in the capital, and six years later Mr. Popov earned a job at the Prosecutor-General’s Office. In 2013 he acted as the interim chief of the Anti-corruption Prosecution Office for eight months, and subsequently returned to the previous job in the Prosecutor-General’s Office.

In 2014 Mr. Popov was appointed as deputy chief prosecutor of the capital and chief of the Ciocana District Office. In a four-year time he returned to the Prosecutor-General’s Office and in December 2019 - when Alexandr Stoianoglo took over as the prosecutor-general - he became his deputy.

In January 2020, a journalist investigation on Mr. Popov’s properties forced the prosecutor-general to request the National Integrity Authority (ANI) to launch an official probe into the allegations. Anticoruptie.md, a Moldovan investigative portal, said Mr. Popov’s parents owned a business which in reality belonged to their son. ANI has started a formal enquiry.

It was not the first time this prosecutor falls under ANI’s screening. In 2013 the authority found that Ruslan Popov had failed to declare all of his assets and properties. Amid an investigation at that time the Higher Council of Prosecutors demanded Mr. Popov’s suspension from office but the case was closed over what was cited as “lack of evidence” and Ruslan Popov continued his activity in the public service.

Ruslan Popov owns a house that measures 211 square meters but is worth more than 111,000 lei in official registration papers. In 2019 he sold an apartment on the Melestiu Street in the capital, which he had procured in 2011 thanks to government subsidies.