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Russian’s transport minister was found dead from a gunshot wound in an apparent suicide, investigators said Monday — news that broke hours after the Kremlin announced he had been dismissed by President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin did not give a reason for the firing of Roman Starovoit, who served as transport minister since May 2024, and it was unclear when exactly he died and whether it was related to an investigation into alleged corruption, as some Russian media suggested, reports AP.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, the top criminal investigation agency, said the body of Starovoit, 53, was found with a gunshot wound in his car parked in Odintsovo, a neighborhood just west of the capital where many members of Russia’s elite live. A gun previously presented to him as an official gift was reportedly found next to his body.
A criminal probe was launched into the death, and investigators saw suicide as the most likely cause, according to committee’s spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko, who did not say when Starovoit died.
Law enforcement agents were seen carrying Starovoit’s body from the site Monday evening.