Russian Minister Turns Up Dead By Apparent Suicide Hours After Being Fired By Putin

Russia’s former Minister of Transportation Roman Starovoit has shot himself dead, Russian media reported Monday.

The Kremlin fired Starovoit from his role as Minister of Transportation early Monday. Investigators found his body in a car outside of his home hours later with what Russian authorities preliminarily described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound, reported Russian state outlet TASS.

The Kremlin’s motivation for the firing of Stravoit was not explicitly stated, although some Russian media are speculating the firing was related to an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption, reported the Associated Press.

The Kremlin was investigating cases of corruption regarding an alleged embezzlement of state funds allocated for military installations in the Kursk region, the AP reported. The Kremlin cited the alleged embezzlement as one of the major reasons for military unpreparedness in the face of a 2024 Ukrainian revolt in the Kursk region.

Russian authorities are investigating a number of corruption cases with alleged rogue state actors being touted as the cause of Russia’s military unreadiness, according to the AP.

A court convicted Khalil Arslanov, a former deputy chief of the military’s General Staff, on corruption charges and sentenced him to 17 years in prison as part of a broad probe into alleged military graft, according to the AP. This follows last week’s conviction of Timur Ivanov, who a court sentenced to a 13-year prison term for embezzlement and money laundering. The Investigative Committee also announced that it arrested Viktor Strigunov, former first deputy chief of the National Guard, on charges of corruption and abuse of office, the AP reported.