Former Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead in his car with a gunshot wound, Russian investigators confirmed just hours after President Vladimir Putin abruptly replaced him.
Starovoit’s body was discovered in his Tesla in Odintsovo, a Moscow region suburb, Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, said on July 7.
“The circumstances of Roman Starovoit’s death are being established. The primary theory is suicide,” Petrenko said.
Starovoit, 53, was removed from office by Putin earlier in the day without explanation. He had served barely a year in the job.
In a swift political reshuffle following Starovoit’s dismissal, Putin appointed Andrei Nikitin, a deputy transport minister and former Novgorod region governor, as acting minister.
Prior to being named transport minister in May 2024, Starovoit served as governor of Kursk, a southwestern region bordering Ukraine.
The region was invaded by Ukrainian forces last August, embarrassing the Kremlin. Russian forces pushed out the last of the Ukrainian troops this spring.
The Ukrainian incursion drew scrutiny of preparations of border defenses.
Investigators said they later discovered alleged embezzlement of government funds that had been earmarked for the defenses, and the newspaper Kommersant reported that Starovoit may have been under investigation for large-scale fraud.
Two of Starovoit's deputies were arrested, and one of them, Aleksei Smirnov, reportedly was prepared to provide testimony incriminating Starovoit.
There were conflicting reports about the timing of Starovoit's death, while some had differing accounts of where the body and gun were found.
Investigators were also reportedly examining possible links to irregularities in medical supply procurement and a failed transport reforms in Kursk during his tenure as governor.
There has been no official confirmation of these allegations.
Russia's airports have been snarled in delays for months now, in large part due to Ukraine's expansion of its drone attacks across the country.
The Transport Ministry reported on July 6 that around 400 flights were canceled nationwide by early evening, including at the country's two busiest airports, and officials urged Russians to consider train travel.
The Defense Ministry claimed to have downed 91 Ukrainian drones overnight July 7.
