Sacked Russian transport minister found dead in his car with gunshot wound

By Gleb Stolyarov and Andrew Osborn

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.

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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.

Three months after he became transport minister, Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Kursk in the biggest foreign incursion into Russian territory since World War Two and were only pushed out earlier this year after fierce fighting and widespread destruction.

In April this year, Starovoit's successor as governor and his former deputy, Alexei Smirnov, was charged with embezzling money earmarked for defence purposes amid accusations that funds intended for border defences had been stolen, leaving Kursk more vulnerable to Ukrainian attack.

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Various Russian media outlets reported on Monday that Smirnov had told state investigators that Starovoit had also been in on the fraud.

Reuters could not confirm that, and a lawyer for Smirnov - who has pleaded not guilty to embezzlement - told the state RIA news agency that he couldn't comment.

TRANSPORT CHALLENGES

Starovoit's dismissal comes at a time of significant challenges for Russia's transport sector as the war in Ukraine drags on for a fourth year.

Russia's aviation sector is short of spare parts and Russian Railways, the country's largest employer, is grappling with soaring interest costs as high rates - needed to curb higher inflation exacerbated by the war - take their toll.

Long-range Ukrainian drones also frequently force Russian airports to suspend their activities for safety reasons, sometimes causing major disruption.

The Kremlin said Andrei Nikitin, a former governor of the Novgorod region, had been appointed acting transport minister, and it published photographs of him shaking hands with Putin in the Kremlin.

Asked about Nikitin's swift appointment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin thought Nikitin had the right professional qualities and experience for the job.

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The transport ministry declined to comment.

At his meeting with Putin, Nikitin spoke about working to digitise Russia's transport industry in an effort to reduce cargo bottlenecks and ensure smoother cross-border flows of goods.