Overview

• President Vladimir Putin abruptly dismissed Roman Starovoit on July 7 and hours later his body was discovered in his car in Odintsovo with a gunshot wound.
• The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a formal inquiry and cites suicide as its leading hypothesis for Starovoit’s death.
• Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov insisted the removal reflected routine administrative reasons rather than a loss of trust.
• Andréi Nikitin, Starovoit’s former deputy, was appointed acting transport minister immediately after the dismissal.
• Andréi Korneichuk, a deputy department head at the transport ministry, died of a reported heart attack upon learning of Starovoit’s fate, intensifying scrutiny over unexplained elite deaths in Russia.