FORMER Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Russia's Investigative Committee confirmed.

Starovoit was sacked by President Vladimir Putin earlier on Monday. There was no official reason given for his dramatic sacking, a BBC report said.

Soon after the firing, Deputy Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin was appointed to replace Starovoit.

Officials said an investigation into the precise conditions surrounding Starovoit's death is under way.

Starovoit became transport minister in May 2024, after nearly six years as Kursk governor. His term as governor expired soon after Ukrainian forces temporarily took some of the region during a surprise counterattack in August 2024. While Russia subsequently retook most of the territory, Kyiv asserted in late June that it still held part inside Russian borders.

Starovoit's Kursk successor, Aleksey Smirnov, was also arrested in April and subsequently charged with corruption for allegedly misappropriating funds earmarked for constructing border fortifications with Ukraine. Russian publication Kommersant wrote that Starovoit was shortly to be made a defendant in the same case of corruption.

It remains unclear when Starovoit died. Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defence Committee, told Russian outlet RTVI that the death had occurred “quite a while ago.”

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• #ransport Minister
• #Roman Starovoit
• #Russia
• #Investigative Committee
• #Vladimir Putin
• #Andrei Nikitin
• #Aleksey Smirnov