Relieved of this post in early 1945 for drunkenness and neglecting his duties, he briefly returned to the front as a corps deputy commander and retired shortly after the end of the war.

Born to a peasant family on 15 August 1895 in the village of Russkaya Zhuravka, Pavlovsky Uyezd, Voronezh Governorate, Povetkin completed primary school.

[1][2][3] He was evacuated to a hospital in Penza and treated there from September 1919, returning to the Southern Front in April 1920 to become a squad leader and assistant platoon commander in the 1st Shock Regiment of the Exemplary Separate Rifle Brigade.

[1][2][3] After the end of the war, in April 1921, Povetkin became a cadet of the repeat department of the Krasnodar Infantry Courses, and upon graduation returned to the 2nd Don Rifle Division, part of the North Caucasus Military District in Novocherkassk.

In August 1934 he became head of the military department at the Rostov College of Physical Education, and from November 1936 commanded a battalion at the Leningrad Military-Political School.

Povetkin received a further promotion to komdiv on 4 November 1939 and transferred to the 4th Army of the Western Special Military District in July 1940 to command its 47th Rifle Corps.

On 27 June the Soviet defenders of Bobruisk, a roughly 4,000-man consolidated detachment commanded by Povetkin, were forced to retreat from the city, but managed to blow up the bridge over the Berezina.

[3] He was relieved of his post on 27 February 1945 by a directive of the People's Commissar of Defense, charged with habitual drunkenness, drinking with subordinates, and shirking his responsibility of supervising combat training in the district.