The Kremlin on Tuesday expressed shock over the apparent suicide of former transport minister Roman Starovoyt following his sacking by President Vladimir Putin a day earlier.
Starovoyt served as transport minister for a year and previously was the governor of the border Kursk region, where Ukraine had launched an incursion.
Authorities said Starovoyt’s body was found in the Moscow suburb of Odintsovo with a gunshot wound.
“It cannot not shock normal people. And of course it shocked us too,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Russian news agencies.
Peskov said he did “not want to comment” but added that: “The president was of course immediately informed.”
Russian media had speculated that Starovoyt was meant to be investigated for corruption in the Kursk region. His successor was arrested this spring for embezzling funds earmarked to beef up fortifications in the region.
Putin officially appointed Andrei Nikitin as Russia’s new transport minister on Tuesday, a Kremlin decree said.
The Russian leader has not commented on Starovoyt’s death.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nikitin addressed Russia’s parliament, the Duma, which ratified Putin’s decision to name him as Starovoyt’s successor.
Neither Nikitin or any members of parliament who questioned him, including the speaker of the house Vyacheslav Volodin, mentioned the suspected suicide in their speeches.
Nikitin said “transport safety” would be one of his priorities, with Ukrainian drones attacks causing chaos at Russian airports.
His predecessor was fired after hundreds of flights were cancelled across Russia last weekend during Kyiv’s large-scale drone offensive.
Starovoyt’s death came as Russia has cracked down on military and some civilian officials during the Ukraine offensive, with the Kremlin tightly controlling the country’s ruling class.
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