He is the former Member of the Parliament (2009), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (2009-2013) and Ambassador of Moldova to Austria, Slovakia, OSCE and International organisations in Vienna (2013-2016).

In 2016, in the middle of his ambassadorial mandate, he resigned from the diplomatic service in sign of disagreement with the policies of the ruling Democratic Party's leadership.

In 2004–2009, Popov was the executive director of the Foreign Policy Association of Moldova (APE) and founder of the Transnistrian Dialogues program.

From 1997 to 2004, he served in different capacities in Moldovan diplomatic service: first in the Embassy of Moldova in Washington (1997-2001) as Second/First Secretary, then in the Foreign Ministry's General International Security Department (2001-2004) as its Deputy Director/Director.

He is the Cavalier of the Order of the Officer's Cross of Merit of Hungary (2013), chairman of the Alumni association of the European Institute of Political Studies of Moldova (IESPM), Board member of the Association for Participative Democracy (ADEPT), alumni in the Young Munich Leaders Program (2011) and the graduate of the UK John Smith Fellowship Program (2009).