Moscow: Hours after he was sacked as Russia's Transport Minister over a probe into alleged embezzlement in his previous gubernatorial post, Roman Starovoit was on Monday found dead of a gunshot, in what seemed to be a suicide, reports said. 

Starovoit, who was appointed as Transport Minister in May 2024, was found dead hours after being dismissed from his post by President Vladimir Putin, RT reported.

As per the Investigative Committee, Starovoit’s body was found in a private car in Moscow Region with a gunshot wound. "The main version under consideration is suicide," spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said.

Before becoming Transport Minister, Starovoit served as the Governor of Kursk Region. RT reported a source as saying that an investigation against him was set to begin for allegedly embezzling funds for defence construction in the region from 2022 to 2024, when he was in charge. The source claimed that Starovoit could have been detained by investigators on Monday evening and brought in for questioning, facing charges of multimillion-ruble theft, it added.

Since the Ukraine conflict broke out in February 2022, the border region has been plagued by corruption scandals, according to RT. Widespread theft of budget funds has been uncovered, particularly in projects related to defence construction. Over 20 individuals have been detained, including Starovoit’s former deputy, Aleksey Dedov, and his gubernatorial successor, Aleksey Smirnov, who led the region from May to December 2024. It remains unclear whether the scandal is linked to Starovoit’s dismissal.

Ukraine launched a large-scale incursion into the Kursk Region last August, in what Kiev touted as a blow to Russia. However, Russian forces quickly turned the tide, and Ukrainian forces were fully expelled in late April.

Starovoit, whose former deputy, Andrey Nikitin, was named acting Transport Minister, has long worked in Russia’s road infrastructure sector. From 2012 to 2018, he led the Federal Road Agency, Rosavtodor, later becoming Deputy Minister of Transport before being appointed Minister.

He had been acting Governor of Kursk from 2018 to 2019, and the elected Governor from 2019 to May 2024 after winning 81 per cent of the vote.

Nikitin, the former Governor of Novgorod Region, was appointed Deputy Transport Minister in February 2025, and oversaw digital transformation, informatisation, and automation of the national transport system.

(IANS)