Scapegoat or casualty? Russian minister’s death shocks elite amid corruption crackdown and Ukraine fallout

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A grab taken from a video footage shows people attending a farewell ceremony in memory of former Russia's former transport minister Roman Starovoyt, who died recently, in Moscow on July 10, 2025. Russia's former transport minister Roman Starovoyt killed himself, Moscow announced on July 7, 2025, hours after the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had fired him. — AFPTV/AFP pic

MOSCOW, July 11 — The reported suicide of Russia’s transport minister hours after he was dismissed by President Vladimir Putin and amid speculation he would be arrested on corruption charges, has shocked the country’s elite.

Several hundred mourners, including some ministers and state officials, streamed past the open coffin of Roman Starovoyt yesterday.

He was found dead in his car on Monday, hours after being fired by Putin, with Russian investigators saying he shot himself.

There was a palpable unease as mourners clutched bouquets of red roses at his farewell.

Russian media reported Starovoyt was being investigated for corruption and could have been arrested within days.

Many who came to the ceremony refused to speak to AFP.

“It’s a great loss, very unexpected,” said one Valentina, a 42-year-old translator whose husband worked with Starovoyt.

“He was very active, cheerful, and loved life very much. I don’t know how it happened,” she added.

An employee carries a portrait of former transport minister Roman Starovoyt, who died recently, during a farewell ceremony in Moscow July 10, 2025. Starovoyt, 53, had been Russia's transport minister for a year and was previously the governor of the border Kursk region, where Russia had battled a Ukrainian incursion. — AFP pic

‘Scapegoat’

Starovoyt had been governor of Russia’s western Kursk region for five years before being promoted to Moscow, just a few months before Ukrainian troops captured dozens of border settlements in a shock cross-border incursion.

His successor was arrested this spring for embezzling funds intended to beef up the fortifications that Ukraine ended up slicing through with ease — an embarrassing setback for Russia’s military.

“They tried to make him the scapegoat, as the incursion mainly happened because there weren’t enough soldiers to protect the border, but it’s easier to put the blame on a civilian official,” political commentator Andrey Pertsev told AFP.

The case is one part of a wider crackdown on officials alleged to have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian army amid the Ukraine offensive — a Kremlin campaign that has ripped up previous norms about what is acceptable for Russian officials.

“There used to be rules, where people knew that once you climbed up high enough, they wouldn’t mess with you,” Pertsev said.

“You had guarantees, and everyone understood the rules... but they do not work any more,” he added.

In a sign of how out-of-favour Starovoyt had become, Putin has not publicly commented on his death.

Asked if he would attend the memorial ceremony in Moscow, Putin’s spokesman told reporters: “The president has a different work schedule today.”

‘Holy war’

While Putin has criticised and vowed to stamp out corruption throughout his 25 years in power, his rule has been characterised by systemic graft, critics say.

The smattering of high-profile arrests has more typically been used to target opponents, or come about as the result of infighting among those lower down Russia’s chain of power.

But the offensive on Ukraine has changed that.

“Something within the system has started to work completely differently,” analyst Tatiana Stanovaya wrote for Carnegie Politika, an online outlet that publishes commentary on Russian and Eurasian politics.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace — the Washington-based think tank that owns Carnegie Politika — is banned in Russia as an “undesirable organisation”.

“Any action or inaction that, in the eyes of the authorities, increases the state’s vulnerability to hostile actions by the enemy must be punished mercilessly and uncompromisingly,” Stanovaya said.

In such a climate, it was inevitable that heads would have to roll over the Kursk failings.

Nina Khrushcheva, a professor at The New School, a university in New York City, said Starovoyt’s apparent suicide showed the Russian elite was “scared.”

The current climate is such that “it is impossible to leave the top brass,” Khrushcheva, who is also the great-great-granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, told AFP.

“This is something we have not really seen since 1953,” she added, referring to the execution of a close ally by Joseph Stalin.

To the Kremlin, the Ukraine campaign is a “holy war” that has rewritten the rules of loyalty and service.

“During a holy war, you don’t steal... you tighten your belts and work 24 hours a day to make the weapons you need.”

That atmosphere, said Stanovaya, has created a “sense of hopelessness” among officials in Moscow that is unlikely to fade.

“Going forward, the system will be ready to sacrifice increasingly prominent figures,” she warned. — AFP

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