Russia's transportation minister found dead in what officials say was an apparent suicide

MOSCOW (AP) — 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.

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.

Andrei Kartapolov, a former deputy defense minister who heads a defense committee in the lower house of parliament, told news outlet RTVI that Starovoit killed himself “quite a while ago,” and some Russian media alleged that he may have taken his life before the publication of Putin's decree firing him. Starovoit was last seen in public Sunday morning, when an official video from the ministry's situation room featured him receiving reports from officials.

Speculation swirls over reasons for Starovoit's dismissal

Russian media have reported that Starovoit's dismissal could have been linked to an investigation into the embezzlement of state funds allocated for building fortifications in the Kursk region, where he served as governor before becoming transportation minister.

The alleged embezzlement has been cited as one of the reasons for deficiencies in Russia's defensive lines that failed to stem a surprise Ukrainian incursion in the region launched in August 2024. In the stunning attack, Ukraine's battle-hardened mechanized units quickly overwhelmed lightly armed Russian border guards and inexperienced army conscripts. Hundreds were taken prisoner.

The incursion was a humiliating blow to the Kremlin — the first time the country’s territory was occupied by an invader since World War II.

The Russian military had announced its troops had fully reclaimed the border territory in April — nearly nine months after losing chunks of the region.

Starovoit's successor as Kursk governor, Alexei Smirnov, stepped down in December and was arrested on embezzlement charges in April. Some Russian media have alleged that Starovoit also could have faced charges as part of the investigation.

His dismissal also followed a weekend of travel chaos as Russian airports were forced to ground hundreds of flights due to Ukrainian drone attacks. Most commentators said, however, that the air traffic disruptions have become customary amid frequent Ukrainian drone raids and were unlikely to have triggered his dismissal.

Shortly after Putin’s decree on Starovoit was published, Andrei Korneichuk, an official with a state railways agency under his ministry, collapsed and died during a business meeting, Russian news reports said. They said he died of an apparent heart attack.

Other high-level corruption cases pressed

An official order releasing Starovoit from his post was published on the Kremlin’s website Monday morning without giving a reason for his dismissal.

Shortly before the news of Starovoit's death broke, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised Starovoit’s replacement, Andrei Nikitin, and refused to comment on the reasons behind the move.

Russian authorities have investigated a slew of cases of high-level corruption that was widely blamed for military setbacks in Ukraine.

On Monday, Khalil Arslanov, a former deputy chief of the military's General Staff, was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Arslanov is a former member of the military brass close to former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Several of them were targeted in a far-ranging probe into alleged military graft.

Last week, Shoigu's former deputy, Timur Ivanov, was convicted on charges of embezzlement and money laundering and handed a 13-year prison sentence.

Shoigu, a veteran official with personal ties to Putin, survived the purges of his inner circle and was given the high-profile post of secretary of Russia’s Security Council.

In another move Monday, the Investigative Committee announced the arrest of Viktor Strigunov, the former first deputy chief of the National Guard. It said Strigunov was charged with corruption and abuse of office.