Several high-ranking officials from the Kremlin attended a memorial service on Thursday for former Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit, while President Vladimir Putin sent a floral tribute but did not participate in person.
Starovoit was discovered deceased from a gunshot wound near a parking area outside Moscow on Monday, occurring merely hours after Putin had dismissed him without providing a reason. Authorities are investigating the situation as a potential suicide.
As of now, Putin has not commented publicly on the circumstances surrounding Starovoit’s death. Earlier in the week, the Kremlin indicated that the president was “immediately informed” about what appeared to be a suicide, yet did not disclose additional information.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that Putin had sent a wreath for the farewell service but refrained from revealing who officially represented the Presidential Administration. “There’s no obligation here, so I can’t specify who attended from the administration. It’s always a personal choice,” he noted, explaining that the president’s busy schedule kept him from being there.
A video shared by the Kommersant business newspaper featured crowds gathered outside the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where the service was held. This hospital is renowned for treating prominent figures from Russia’s political and business spheres.
Attendees included Deputy Prime Ministers Dmitry Grigorenko, Alexander Novak, and Dmitry Patrushev, as well as at least four cabinet ministers and executives from major state transportation companies. Andrei Nikitin, who succeeded Starovoit, was also in attendance.
His funeral is anticipated to take place in St. Petersburg on Friday.
Starovoit had been in office for just a year before his dismissal. Prior to that role, he served as the governor of the Kursk region from 2018 until May 2024.
His dismissal and untimely death have ignited rumors that he might have been on the verge of facing legal action tied to an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption related to the construction of border defenses in the Kursk area, which faced a significant Ukrainian incursion last August.
While Starovoit had not been formally charged in that investigation, Russian media reported, citing anonymous sources, that individuals implicated in the case, including his predecessor Alexei Smirnov, had recently provided testimony against him.
