In 1992, Popkov founded and then led the interdenominational and inter-ethnic human rights group Omega, set up to promote dialogue between different ethnicities and religious denominations in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Popkov later led a peace march in Abkhazia, delivered food to the starving town of Tkvarcheli besieged by the Georgian forces, and helped save many people from summary execution after the fall of Sokhumi.

[1] The attackers were said to be Chechen Islamic fundamentalists in collusion with the Russian forces, and in 2002 Memorial pinpointed them to be members of an armed group led by the notorious warlord Arbi Barayev.

[8][9] Popkov's condition was irreversibly aggravated when the troops at the checkpoint held him, his driver, and a Chechen doctor Rosa Muzarova (all of whom suffered serious injuries in the attack and were heavily bleeding) for reportedly one to three hours following the shooting.

[11] Viktor Popkov died in the Vishnevsky 3rd Central Military Clinical Hospital in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, without regaining consciousness, leaving behind a seriously ill widow Tatyana and a disabled daughter Ulyana.