Former Russian transport minister Roman Starovoit, fired on Monday by dictator Vladimir Putin was found dead on the outskirts of Moscow, according to the Russian investigation committee-which considers suicide as the cause of death.
“The investigation is investigating the circumstances of the death of Roman Starovoit,” said a statement from the institution, published in the Telegram.
The note indicates that the former minister was found “a bullet wound in his private vehicle” in the city of Odintsovo, on the outskirts of the Russian capital.
“The main hypothesis is suicide,” said the investigators.
Starovoit, 53 and former governor of the Kursk region, had taken over the transportation folder in May 2024.
The country’s means of communications also consider the hypothesis that Starovoit committed suicide on the night from July 5 to 6 with his Makarov pistol, delivered in 2023 in recognition of his services.
However, a popular telegram channel, popular in the country, says that the former minister met with his subordinates this morning, said goodbye and went home, which is close to where his body was found.
In charge of the Kursk region, Starovoit was replaced by Alexei Smirnov, arrested in April after being accused of corruption and fraud in the construction of defensive lines near the Ukraine border.
Telegram Russian channels pointed out that Starovoit could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement after other politicians, including Smirnov, witness to him.
In August 2024, three months after Starovoit left Kursk to take office in the government, the Ukraine Armed Forces invaded and held part of this region, which they were expelled only in April.
Hours after Starovoit’s dismissal, Putin appointed as his replacement at the head of the Andrei Nikitin Ministry of Transport, hitherto deputy minister of the same folder.
Russian presidency spokesman Dmitri Peskov assured that Starovoit’s resignation was not related to the loss of confidence in his figure.
“In the decree (of dismissal) it is usually indicated that it is for loss of confidence when this occurs,” said the spokesman.