Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit, who shot himself today shortly after his dismissal by President Putin, was reportedly about to be charged with a 15 billion ruble ($190 million) fraud over the construction of border fortifications in Russia's Kursk region. ⬇️

2/ According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, "the dismissal of Roman Starovoit was only a pretext for bringing him to criminal responsibility."

3/ "The order of the president to remove him from office due to failure to fulfill his duties (massive transport collapses) and the dismissal happened on the same day.

4/ "The next day (as of today) a summons and a decision on detention in the case of the theft of about 15 billion rubles during the construction of fortifications in the Kursk region were [to be] issued.

5/ "The ex-governor and ex-Minister of Transport Starovoit found out about this and committed suicide."

6/ As reported in April, former Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirmov and his former deputy were arrested on corruption charges after multiple frauds were found to have been committed in building defensive structures, which Ukraine easily breached.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1914246364592062957

7/ The alleged fraud involved many different contractors using a variety of scams to do the work below standard or not at all. These included inflating costs, employing fictional workers, making obstacles such as dragon's teeth too small, and using poor-quality materials.

8/ The contractors are said to have paid kickbacks to corrupt officials such as Smirnov and Starovoit, Smirnov's predecessor as governor and boss as deputy governor. Smirnov is reported to have testified against Starovoit after his arrest in April.

9/ Starovoit was reportedly about to be charged with fraud and embezzlement. Law enforcement bodies (likely the Investigative Committee of Russia, the country's equivalent of the FBI) had requested his arrest, leading to his dismissal.

10/ This morning, Starovoit is said to have "held a working meeting as a minister. He arrived at his workplace in the morning and behaved as usual. He held a standard working meeting (plans for the work week, control over the implementation of instructions) with his deputies."

11/ "According to the source, he guessed about his upcoming dismissal, but found out only this morning.

At 09:15, the news about the president's order [for his dismissal] appeared."

12/ "Exactly 5 minutes later, Roman Starovoit ordered his secretary to "leave at 09:35" and locked himself in his office. At the appointed time, the official left his workplace without saying goodbye to anyone."

13/ He drove to Malevich Park near the village of Razdory west of Moscow, went into a wooded area nearby and shot himself with a pistol awarded to him by the Interior Ministry in 2023. His body was identified by a young female friend.

14/ Although Smirnov is said to have implicated Starovoit in testimony given back in April, Starovoit's fate is said to have been the focus of an intense three-month struggle between rival oligarchic clans who have large stakes in the Transport Ministry's spending programmes.

15/ A VChK-OGPU source says: "Roman Starovoit was 100% a man of the Rotenbergs [left picture]. They fought for his position and freedom. And Andrei Nikitin, who replaced Starovoit as Minister of Transport, was 100% a man of the Kovalchuks [Yuri Kovalchuk, right]."

16/ "They defeated the Rotenbergs in the fight for the Ministry of Transport and, at the same time, [for] Starovoit's freedom."

17/ Arkady and Boris Rotenberg and their allies have been notable beneficiaries of the multi-billion ruble investment plans of Russian Railways (RZD), which have gone ahead even as the company has fallen into a deep crisis.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1940327592437195218

18/ Despite being short of resources elsewhere, in 2024 RZD spent over 200 million rubles buying a skyscraper in Moscow. The building is believed to have been owned by businessman Grigory Baevsky, a business partner of the Rotenberg brothers, and a company associated with them.

19/ Starovoit's arrest indicates that he had lost the 'krysha' – protection – provided by the Rotenbergs. The brothers have been close partners of Putin in seizing control of Russian companies in an ongoing 'soft privatisation'.

20/ It's not clear what this might mean for the Rotenbergs themselves. It may simply be that the evidence against Starovoit was too strong, and the political pressure too intense, for him to be saved by their influence.

21/ Russian warblogger and journalist Anastasia Kashevarova, who has campaigned for retribution against those who sabotaged the border defences through corruption, has welcomed Starovoit's death. She says he is the principal suspect in the case.

22/ "Starovoit was threatened with a prison term and shame. He decided to avoid this. He shot himself. Still a brave act. He is the only one who shot himself from that pack of plunderers.

23/ "After all, those who accepted the works and let the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the territory of Kursk Oblast [also] have award pistols, but did not use them." /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 t.me/rucriminalinfo…
🔹 novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/…
🔹 themoscowtimes.com/2025/04/10/rot…