Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Monday that former Transport Minister Roman Starovoit, 53, was found dead with a gunshot wound in his car in Odintsovo, a suburb west of Moscow. A pistol was recovered at the scene and investigators said the leading hypothesis is suicide, although a formal inquiry into the circumstances is continuing. Starovoit’s body was discovered only hours after President Vladimir Putin dismissed him by decree and named former Novgorod governor Andrei Nikitin as acting transport minister. Starovoit had led the transport portfolio since May 2024 after nearly five years as governor of the Kursk region next to Ukraine. Political analysts and Russian media linked the abrupt dismissal to an expanding corruption investigation in Kursk. Prosecutors have accused Starovoit’s successor there, Alexei Smirnov, of siphoning part of the 19.4 billion rubles ($246 million) allocated in 2022 for border fortifications. Several outlets reported that Smirnov, arrested in April, had recently provided testimony implicating Starovoit. The death comes as Russia’s transport network strains under the war in Ukraine. Drone strikes routinely disrupt flights around Moscow, airlines face shortages of Western spare parts and Russian Railways is contending with higher financing costs. The Kremlin said Nikitin’s immediate task will be to restore stability and modernise logistics while investigators finalise their report on Starovoit’s death.