Numerous senior Kremlin authorities attended a memorial service on Thursday for previous Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit, while President Vladimir Putin sent a wreath however did not attend in person.Starovoit was found dead with a gunshot injury near a parking lot outside Moscow on Monday, simply hours after Putin dismissed him from his post without description.
Law enforcement authorities are treating the case as a presumed suicide.Putin has yet to openly comment on Starovoits death.
The Kremlin said earlier this week that the president had been instantly notified of the obvious suicide, but provided no more details.Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov informed reporters on Thursday that Putin sent a wreath to the farewell ceremony however declined to say who formally represented the Presidential Administration.Theres no commitment here, so I cant say who went from the administration.
Its constantly a personal choice, he said, adding that Putins work schedule avoided him from attending the event.A video released by the Kommersant company paper revealed crowds collected outside the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where the event occurred.
The hospital is understood for dealing with Russias political and company elite.Among the guests were Deputy Prime Ministers Dmitry Grigorenko, Alexander Novak and Dmitry Patrushev, along with at least four cabinet ministers and the heads of significant state transport companies.
Starovoits successor, Andrei Nikitin, was likewise present.His funeral service is expected to be held in St.
Petersburg on Friday.Starovoit was dismissed just one year after being designated transport minister.
Before that appointment, he functioned as the governor of the southwestern Kursk area from 2018 to May 2024.
His removal and subsequent death have fueled speculation that he may have been facing prosecution as part of an ongoing investigation into supposed corruption in the building of border defenses in the Kursk area, which saw a major Ukrainian attack last August.While Starovoit had actually not been officially linked in that investigation, Russian media cited unnamed sources as saying that suspects in the event, including his predecessor in the Kursk area, Alexei Smirnov, had just recently testified against him.