In less than a week, three political and business -linked figures died mysteriously in Russia, reviving theories about Moscow regime tactics to eliminate threats.
On Monday (7), Russian authorities announced the death of a former 53-year-old Roman Starovoyt. He was found dead in his car hours with bullet injury after being fired from office by dictator Vladimir Putin. The official version of the National Investigation Committee is suspected of suicide, but the investigation is still underway.
Prior to taking the ministerial position, Starovoit was in charge of the Kursk region for five years, being replaced by Alexei Smirnov in May last year after Kremlin opened an investigation into embezzlement for defense fortifications in the region through the war with Ukraine.
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, witnessed against him.
Putin’s regime gave no details about the resignation on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov only stated that Starovoit’s resignation was not related to a loss of confidence in his figure.
In addition to the mysterious case involving the former minister, Russian media reported on Monday that a high employee of the 42-year-old federal road agency Andrei Korneichuk died at work due to an apparent heart attack. For now, a connection between cases has not been reported.
Korneichuk would be deputy chief of the land fund department of the Federal Road Agency.
The mysterious deaths appear a few days after last Friday the death of the vice president of a state-owned Russian pipeline company, possessing the world’s largest pipeline system.
Andrei Badalov, who was part of Transneft’s top echelon, was found dead on the outskirts of Moscow. “Badalov’s body was found on the street under the windows of his home. The preliminary cause of death is suicide,” said a source cited by the news agency TassAlthough the investigation remains in progress.
Badalov, 62, had the position of vice president of Transneft since 2021, being responsible for digital transformation, information technologies and automation of the production of the state company in charge of the Russian oil network.
In recent years, several high -ranked Russian entrepreneurs and Russian employees have died in foreign circumstances, and most have been classified as suicide after falling from their apartments or workplaces.
In January last year, 46 -year -old Vladimir Egorov, deputy of Duma (City Hall) of the city of Tobolsk, located in Siberia, was found lifeless in the backyard of a house, after, according to witnesses, fall from the third floor of the residence.
In April 2022, former GAZPROMBANK President Vladislav Avaev was found dead with his wife and daughter. Days later, the bodies of Sergei Protosenya, director of Novatek, his wife and daughter were found in Spain.
In the same year, Ravil Maganov, president of oil company Lukoil, died by allegedly falling from one of the floors of the hospital where he was hospitalized.
