The first to report the death of the ex-minister were telegram channels associated with Russian law enforcement, claiming that he shot himself. Later, the Investigative Committee officially confirmed the death of Roman Starovoit.
According to the official representative of the department, Svetlana Petrenko, the body of the former Minister of Transport with a gunshot wound was found today in his personal car. «The investigative bodies of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Moscow region are working on the scene, the circumstances of the incident are being established. The main version is suicide», — stated Petrenko.
A source from Forbes, close to the investigative bodies, claims that Roman Starovoit shot himself back on the night from Saturday to Sunday. Earlier, the head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrey Kartapolov, told RTVI that this happened «quite a while ago».
Starovoit held the post of head of the Ministry of Transport of Russia for just over a year. Before that, he was the governor of the Kursk region for five years. Acting governor after Starovoit was appointed Alexey Smirnov, who soon resigned and was then arrested in a criminal case of embezzlement of at least one billion rubles from the budget during the construction of defensive structures on the border with Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Starovoit's dismissal was not related to a loss of trust. Nevertheless, according to «112», Alexey Smirnov, involved in the case, gave testimony against his predecessor.
The order for Roman Starovoit's dismissal from the position of Minister of Transport was published this morning.
A source from VChK-OGPU* reported that the dismissal of Roman Starovoit was merely a pretext for bringing him to criminal responsibility. The president's order for dismissal due to failure to perform duties (massive transport collapses) and the dismissal happened on the same day. The next day (today), a warrant and order for detention in the case of embezzlement of about 15 billion rubles during the construction of fortification structures in the Kursk region were already issued.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».