Russian transport minister found dead after being sacked by Putin

Russian Minister of Transport recently dismissed by President Vladimir Putin, Roman Starovoit, was found dead with a ball injury in a car, the Moscow Central Investigation Committee reported on Monday.

“The circumstances of the incident are currently under investigation. The main theory is suicide,” said spokeswoman for the inquiry authority Svetlana Petrenko.

The Russian media had also pointed out that the 53 -year -old politician would have fell in his residence in Osintsovo in the Moscow region.

The decree published in Moscow earlier Monday did not give any reason why Starovoit, the former governor of the western Russia region of Kursk, who was appointed Minister of Transport in May of last year, left his post. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not give a reason either.

The deputy for Starovoit, Andrey Nikitin, was appointed interim minister.

The successor of Starovoit as governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, was detained for alleged fraud.

Kursk is the place where Ukrainian troops captured dozens of villages in August from last year, in a temporary but embarrassment for the Russian army.

Smirnov became governor of Kursk in May 2024 but was forced to resign in December after the Ukrainian troops invaded.

The case against Smirnov focuses on the fact that the funds for building fortifications on the border with Ukraine would not have been spent appropriately.

These fortifications were built from 2022, shortly after Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

As governor, Starovoit said that these facilities had been completed. No STAROVOIT survey is known to date.

Russian commentators also cited chaos in Russian airports as a possible reason for its dismissal. Hundreds of flights were canceled in the middle of the holiday season due to frequent Ukrainian drone attacks.