Hours after the Russian transport minister was dismissed, he is suspected of being shot dead.

Russian Transport Minister Removed from Office, Died by Suicide Hours Later

On July 7 local time, Putin personally ordered the removal of Roman Starovoit from his position as Minister of Transport, with a deputy minister temporarily assuming the role. Several hours later, Roman was found dead in his private car in a parking lot. The car was registered under Roman's name, and there was a gun inside the car, while Roman had a gunshot wound on his body. There were no signs of external intrusion into the vehicle. Russian officials initially speculated that Roman committed suicide, and the case is under investigation.

Roman is 53 years old and has previously served as vice-chairman of the St. Petersburg City Committee for Investment and Strategic Projects, director of the Russian National Committee for Investment and Strategic Projects, and supervised the construction of venues for the Sochi Winter Olympics. In 2019, he became the governor of Kursk Oblast, and in May last year, he became the Minister of Transport.

Roman is in good health and even completed an Ironman triathlon, so it is unlikely that he committed suicide due to illness. According to sources, the main reason for his dismissal by Putin was related to a large-scale corruption case involving defense facilities in the Kursk region.

It is reported that during 2022-2023, the Russian government allocated 1.97 billion rubles (approximately 1.77 billion yuan) to build defensive structures along the Russia-Ukraine border in Kursk Oblast. However, these structures either did not start construction or were only announced to begin but were not actually built, which allowed Ukrainian forces to easily enter the Kursk region on August 6, 2024, and occupy dozens of settlements.

By April this year, the Russian military finally recaptured Kursk, and the investigation into the corruption case was initiated. The former governor of the region, Smirnov (also a deputy when Roman was the governor), was arrested for embezzling 1 billion rubles (about 90 million yuan). Last month, Smirnov testified in court, accusing Roman of being involved in the corruption case. This may have led to Roman's dismissal and ultimately his "suicide out of fear of punishment."

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837052643034124/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author.