Russian minister’s death serves as warning to political elite

It was an exciting start for the week in Russia.

On Monday morning, President Vladimir Putin, the Romanian Minister of Transport, sacked.

In the afternoon, Starovuwyot. His body was discovered in a garden on the edge of Moscow with a gunshot in the head. A pistol, claim, next to the body.

Investigators said they assumed that the former minister had given his life.

In moskovsky komsomolets this morning there was a feeling of shock.

“A Romanian suicide, a few hours after the president’s order to pass it, is almost a unique event in Russian history,” the newspaper announced.

This is because you need to return for more than thirty years, before the fall of the Soviet Union, for example for the Minister of Government here killing themselves.

In August 1991, after the failure of the coup by the Communist militants, one of the leaders of the coup – Soviet Interior Minister Boris Bugo – fired fire on himself.

The Kremlin said little about Starovuwit’s death.

“How long is you shocking because a dead federal minister was found a few hours after his launch by the president?” I asked Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov at the Carmlin Conference.

Peskov replied, “The ordinary people cannot be shocked by this.” “Of course, we were also shocked.

“It is up to an investigation to provide answers to all questions. While it is continuing, one can only predict. But this is more for the media and political critics. It is not ours.”

In fact, the Russian press was full of speculation.

Today, many Russian newspapers have linked what happened to Romanian Starovuet with events in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine. Before his appointment as Minister of Transport in May 2024, Starovoit was the regional ruler of Kursk for more than five years.

Under his leadership – and with large sums of government funds – the ruler Starovit launched the construction of defensive fortifications along the border. This was not strong enough to prevent the Ukrainian forces from penetrating and seizing lands in the Kursk region last year.

Since then, the successor of Starovuit has been arrested as a ruler, Alexei Samirnov, and his former deputy Alexei Didov and were charged with widespread fraud regarding the construction of fortifications.

“Mr. Starovuwyt has become one of the senior defendants in this case,” suggested today’s edition of The Business Daily Kommersant.

The Russian authorities did not confirm this.

But if he was afraid of the prosecution that prompted a former minister to assume his life, what does he tell us about Russia today?

“The most dramatic part of this, with everything that happened in Russia in recent years, is that a high -ranking government official [kills himself] Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School in New York, says he has no other way to get out of the system.

“He should be afraid that dozens of prison will receive imprisonment if he will be investigated, and that his family will suffer greatly. So, there are no outputs. [killed himself] In 1937 because he felt that there was no way out. When you start thinking about 1937 in today’s environment, it gives you a great stop. “

The death of Roman Starovuwit may be the headlines in the papers here. But this “almost unique occurrence in Russian history” has received minimal coverage on state TV.

Perhaps this is because the Kremlin recognizes the strength of TV to form public opinion. In Russia, television is more influential than newspapers. Therefore, when it comes to television, the authorities tend to be more cautious and cautious about messages.

The main evening news bulletin on Monday, on Russia 1, included a four -minute report on Putin, appointing a new minister of the prosecution, André Nikitin.

It was not mentioned at all that the former Minister of Transport was dismissed. Or it was found dead.

Just forty minutes later, at the end of the news bulletin, the broadcaster mentioned in short the death of Roman Starovoit.

He devoted the news reader every 18 seconds, which means that most of the Russians will not look at the dramatic events on Monday as an important development.

For the political elite, it is a different story. For ministers, conservatives and other Russian officials who sought to be part of the political system, what happened to Starovoit will be a warning.

“On the contrary, when you can get these jobs, it becomes rich, and promoted from the regional level to the federal level, today, it is not clear that it is not a professional path if you want to survive,” says Nina Khrushcheva.

“There is not only an upward movement to start, but even the descending mobility ends with death.”

It is a reminder of the risks that stem from the fall of the regime.