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Investigators say Starovoit likely took his own life - Starovoit had held transport brief for barely a year
- He previously ran the Kursk region next to Ukraine
- His successor there was embroiled in a corruption case
- Ukrainian troops seized part of Kursk for months
July 7 (Reuters) - 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, 53, 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.
That investigation centres on whether 19.4 billion roubles ($246 million) earmarked in 2022 for fortifying Russia’s border with Ukraine in the Kursk region was properly spent or whether some of that money was embezzled.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement it was working to establish the precise circumstances of Starovoit’s death.
A pistol belonging to Starovoit, who was divorced with two daughters, had been found near his body, various Russian media outlets cited law enforcement sources as saying.
Some Russian media, citing law enforcement sources, also said his body had been found with a gunshot wound to the head in bushes near his car, a Tesla, rather than in the car itself.
The vehicle was left near a park not far from his home in the Moscow region.
Before being appointed transport minister in May 2024, Starovoit had been governor of the Kursk region for nearly five years.
Two gunshots to the back of the head — typical Russian suicide.
Stuffed into the back of the trunk is a fun new wrinkle.
Are either of those details true or are you just spreading misinformation for teh memez?
Am I wrong to think this might actually be suicide? He’d just been fired; his life was just going to get worse and he knew the government would put him in prison and then quietly kill him eventually, so he took his own life. Putin favors defenestration, anyway.
Seems like the walls were closing in for this guy.
If it was suicide, it was in order to avoid torture and murder.
The Russian equivalent of “you can’t fire me—I quit!”
After the gunshot he mysteriously jumped out a window as well
Sure, it looks like foul play—but it’s also a perfectly natural reaction to driving a Tesla.
I will now recommend the Sad Oligarch podcast. Short series on the mysterious deaths of Russian oligarchs in the last few years.
Interesting how he wasn’t just transferred to some “window looker” job (pun not intended).
Ministers in Russia are appointed basically by czar himself and firing such folks for their failures would mean admitting that czar made wrong decision when appointing them.
There’s, of course, ol’ classic “czar good, boyars bad”, but still kinda surprising for me.
Czar good in The Club
“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.”
🤔
*fired at him?
A self-inflicted gunshot wound to the back of the head, while falling out of a window, you say?
