Keep knowledgeable with free updates
Merely signal as much as the Battle in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.
Russia’s Investigative Committee stated on Monday that the nation’s transport minister Roman Starovoyt, 53, had died from a suspected suicide, on the identical day that he was fired by President Vladimir Putin.
A number of Telegram channels with shut ties to the safety companies reported that Starovoyt, a former head of the Ukraine-bordering Kursk area, shot himself in his Tesla Mannequin X, in a city west of Moscow.
Starovoyt’s dying got here amid a corruption probe into the development of defensive fortifications in Kursk, which he ruled till Might 2024.
It marks the primary suicide of a senior Russian official in years, and the primary to come back amid scrutiny over choices made in the course of the conflict in Ukraine.
Preliminary stories of Starovoyt’s suicide got here simply hours after Putin formally dismissed him from his ministerial publish on Monday morning, although it was unclear whether or not he died earlier than or after the decree was signed.
A felony case has been opened over alleged embezzlement linked to the development of defensive fortifications within the Kursk area, components of which have been underneath partial Ukrainian management for six months till March 2025.
Starovoyt’s successor as governor of the Kursk area, alongside together with his deputy, have been arrested as a part of the investigation and accused of embezzling at the very least Rbs1bn (greater than $12mn) in state funds allotted for the development.
A number of Russian media retailers and Telegram channels reported that Starovoyt was underneath investigation for doable involvement within the case.
Starovoyt’s dying additionally comes as Ukrainian drone assaults have triggered chaos at Russia’s primary airports, together with these in Moscow and St Petersburg.
Almost 500 flights have been cancelled and nearly 2,000 delayed since Saturday, in line with Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation authority.
Such disruptions have turn into more and more frequent in latest months, with some airports pressured to close down dozens of instances since early spring.
This can be a creating story
