Russia’s sacked transport minister has been found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound and the principal hypothesis is that he took his own life, state investigators said on Monday, hours after President Vladimir Putin fired him.

A presidential decree published earlier on Monday gave no reason for the dismissal of Roman Starovoit after barely a year in the job, though political analysts were quick to raise the possibility that he may have been dismissed in connection with an investigation into corruption in the region he once ran.

Reuters could not independently confirm these suggestions, though a transport industry source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Starovoit’s position had been in question for months due to questions about the same corruption scandal, which centred on funds earmarked for fortifying Russia's border with Ukraine in the Kursk region.

There were conflicting reports about the timing of Starovoit’s death. Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement it was working to establish the precise circumstances.

Various Russian media cited law enforcement sources as saying a pistol belonging to Starovoit had been found alongside his body in his car.

Before being appointed transport minister in May 2024, Starovoit had been governor of the Kursk region for nearly five years.

Three months after he became transport minister, Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Kursk in the biggest foreign incursion into Russian territory since World War Two and were only pushed out earlier this year after fierce fighting and widespread destruction.

In April this year, Starovoit’s successor as governor, Alexei Smirnov, was charged with embezzling money earmarked for defence purposes amid accusations that the funds earmarked for border defences had been stolen, leaving Kursk more vulnerable to Ukrainian attack.

Pressed earlier on Monday by reporters on whether his dismissal meant Putin had lost trust in Starovoit over Kursk, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “a loss of trust is mentioned if there is a loss of trust”.

“There is no such wording in the (Kremlin) decree.”

TRANSPORT CHALLENGES

Starovoit’s dismissal comes at a time of significant challenges for Russia’s transport sector as the war in Ukraine drags on for a fourth year.

Russia’s aviation sector is short of spare parts and Russian Railways, the country's largest employer, is grappling with soaring interest costs as high rates - needed to curb higher inflation exacerbated by the war - take their toll.

The Kremlin said Andrei Nikitin, a former governor of the Novgorod region, had been appointed acting transport minister and it published photographs of him shaking hands with Putin in the Kremlin.

Asked about Nikitin’s swift appointment, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said: “At present, in the president’s opinion, Andrei Nikitin's professional qualities and experience will best contribute to ensuring that this agency, which the president described as extremely important, fulfils its tasks and functions.”

Two transport industry sources said plans to replace Starovoit with Nikitin had been in the works since before last month's International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.

The transport ministry declined to comment on Monday.

At his meeting with Putin, Nikitin spoke about working on the huge task of digitising Russia’s transport industry in an effort to reduce cargo bottlenecks and ensure smoother cross-border flows of goods.