Overview

• Investigators have opened a formal inquiry into the death of Roman Starovoit, treating his July 7 shooting as an apparent suicide after his dismissal.
• The Kremlin insists Starovoit’s removal was a standard cabinet change rather than a response to lost confidence, with Putin expressing surprise and sending a wreath to his funeral.
• Starovoit faced corruption probes over his time as governor of Kursk, including alleged embezzlement of defense funds and shoddy border fortifications.
• His death follows other high-profile fatalities and arrests of senior officials and business leaders in recent months, which analysts view as instruments of power consolidation.
• The incident has stoked fear among Moscow’s elite and underscored the intensifying anti-corruption campaign in wartime Russia.