Within hours of being dismissed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead in a car near his home. In the preliminary investigation it is considered 'suicide'.
The UK -based The Times reported that the 4 -year -old Starovoit was dismissed on Monday. Earlier, Russia's National Aviation Authority said that more than 500 flights across Russia have been canceled and about 2,000 flights have been delayed since last Saturday in fear of Ukraine's drone attack. It is believed that Starovoit has been blamed for this chaos.
The body of Starovoit was found in a car near his home in Moscow's Odnesovo district. It is also known that he received the Makarov pistol from the Home Ministry in 2021.
Investigation officials said investigations are underway around the death and suicide is now being considered as the main cause. However, it is unclear when the death has taken place. Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian Parliament Defense Committee, said that Starovoi's death could have been long ago, though he did not give details.
From 20 to 2021, Starovoit was the governor of the Kursk region of West Russia. He was removed within a few days of the Ukraine attack on the border area last year. Russian media reported that an investigation was underway against him on charges of embezzling one billion ruble money allocated for border defense. His replacement Alexei Smirnov testified on the matter and he was also arrested last April.
This suicide of Starovoi is the most significant violent death of a high -level minister in Russia. Earlier in 2021, Emergency Minister Yevgeni Ginichev died in an accident in the Arctic region. In addition, several Russian traders have also died since the war began with Ukraine mysteriously from the multi -storeyed building.
“This is not just an attack, it is a strategy to create emotional stress in Russia's public,” said Ukraine defense spokeswoman Seri Bruchuk on the drone attack. Lying at the airport is a little price for this war. But it breaks the morale of the people. '
Passengers were recently seen lying on the floor at various airports including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorad in the drone attack. The daily damage to the Russian airlines was about 20 billion rubles. Many Russian tourists are trapped in places like Antalia in Turkey.
One Ukrainian military blogger writes, 'An airport is easier than destroying an arsenal. Only a few drones are enough. This situation is changing the view of many Russians. '
Russia is now increasing its own drone production. In June, they fired more than 3,000 drones in Ukraine.
