Russian Minister Who Had Led Region Later Invaded by Ukraine Is Found Dead

Russia’s transport minister, who previously served as governor of the Kursk region, was found dead in his car from a gunshot wound, Russian authorities said on Monday, hours after the Kremlin announced he had been relieved of his duties.

Law enforcement authorities said they were investigating the death as a possible suicide.

Roman V. Starovoyt, 53, oversaw the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, for nearly six years before becoming transport minister in May 2024. Three months after his promotion, Kyiv invaded the region and seized a swath of territory that the Ukrainian military held until Russian troops ousted them in April this year.

The monthslong Ukrainian occupation of Russian land was the first invasion of Russian territory since World War II. It was an embarrassment to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and set off domestic recriminations that in recent months have gathered steam.

Russian authorities have arrested former officials from the Kursk region and accused them of embezzling funds that Moscow had earmarked to fortify the border with Ukraine during Mr. Starovoyt’s tenure as governor.

In April, his successor and longtime deputy, Aleksei B. Smirnov, was arrested and accused of embezzlement as part of the case. Mr. Smirnov served as the acting Kursk governor at the time of the Ukrainian invasion.

Svetlana Petrenko, the spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, a federal law enforcement body, said in a statement that Mr. Starovoyt’s body was found in his car in Odintsovo, an affluent area outside Moscow.

Authorities were working to establish the circumstances of the death, Ms. Petrenko said, noting that it was suspected that he had died by suicide.

The Kremlin posted a decree early Monday morning signed by Mr. Putin which said that Mr. Starovoyt had been relieved of his duties. Mr. Putin then met publicly with the minister’s chosen successor, Andrei S. Nikitin, the former governor of the Novgorod region. The Kremlin has not commented on Mr. Starovoyt’s death.