Jul 08, Kathmandu - Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt has committed suicide within hours of being dismissed from his post.

He was dismissed by Russian President Vladimir Putin after being accused of corruption.

Starovoit's body was found inside a private vehicle with gunshot wounds.

Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative Committee, said that prima facie it was a case of suicide.

Starovoyt 's body was found at Malevich Park in Odintsovo, on the outskirts of Moscow, at 3:00 p.m. local time on Monday. The Marakov pistol he had received as a gift was also with him in the Tesla car.

Before becoming transport minister, Starovoit was the governor of the Kursk region. He was accused of corruption in the budget allocated for construction in the defense sector while he was in charge of Kursk from 2022 to 2024. He was arrested by police on Monday evening for questioning, but he committed suicide before that.

In August 2024, Ukraine launched a massive offensive in the Kursk region, taking control of a large part of the area. By April, Russia had driven all Ukrainian troops out of the area and retaken control of the area. However, Starovoit was criticized for failing to gather information about Ukraine's planned attack on Kursk in time.

Starovoyt was replaced as transport minister by Andrey Nikitin, who had previously served as governor of the Novgorod region.