Russia’s sacked transport minister has been found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound and the principal hypothesis is that he took his own life, state investigators said on Monday, hours after President Vladimir Putin fired him. A presidential decree published earlier on Monday gave no reason for the dismissal of Roman Starovoit after barely a year in the job, though political analysts were quick to raise the possibility that he may have been dismissed in connection with an investigation into corruption in the region he once ran. Reuters could not independently confirm these suggestions, though a transport industry source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Starovoit’s position had been in question for months due to questions about the same corruption scandal, which centred on funds earmarked for fortifying Russia’s border with Ukraine in the Kursk region. There were conflicting reports about the timing of Starovoit’s death. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement it was working to establish the precise circumstances. Various Russian media cited law enforcement sources as saying a pistol belonging to Starovoit had been found alongside his body in his car.
via reuters: Sacked Russian transport minister found dead in his car with gunshot wound
siehe auch: Russian minister dies by suicide hours after getting fired by Putin, officials say. Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit died by suicide on Monday, just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin fired him from the job, officials said. Starovoit was dismissed by Putin on Monday morning. The decree announcing his dismissal was published on the official Kremlin website, with his deputy Andrey Nikitin appointed acting minister. Asked by reporters for the reasons behind Starovoit’s dismissal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied this was due to a “lack of trust,” but he did not give any alternative reason. The Investigative Committee of Russia said in a statement that Starovoit’s body was found inside a car in Odintsovo, a suburb of Moscow. He was found with a gunshot wound, the committee said. It said the circumstances of his death were being investigated but the “main theory is suicide.” Before he became a minister in May 2024, Starovoit was the governor of the southern Russian Kursk region. While he left the post before Ukraine’s surprise incursion, he was partially blamed for security failures in the Russian region; Kurz nach Entlassung Russlands Verkehrsminister tot aufgefunden. Erst vermelden Russlands Behörden die Entlassung von Verkehrsminister Starowoit, nur wenig später dann, dass er tot ist. Die Umstände seines Todes sind unklar – ebenso wie der Grund, warum Kremlchef Putin ihn entlassen hat.Der gerade erst von Kremlchef Wladimir Putin entlassene Verkehrsminister Roman Starowoit ist Moskauer Behördenangaben zufolge tot mit einer Schusswunde in einem Auto gefunden worden. Das teilte das zentrale Ermittlungskomitee in Moskau mit. Einen genauen Todeszeitpunkt nannten die Behörden nicht.”Die Umstände des Vorfalls werden derzeit ermittelt. Die Hauptversion ist Suizid”, sagte die Sprecherin der Ermittlungsbehörde, Swetlana Petrenko.