MOSCOW - Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead in a suspected suicide on Monday, hours after his dismissal from the post, said Russian authorities.

His body with a gunshot wound was found in a car in the Odintsovskiy district of the Moscow Region, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.

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The circumstances of the incident are being established, it said, adding that "the main version is suicide."

Starovoit took the minister post in May 2024 and was dismissed earlier in the day by a presidential decree. Andrey Nikitin has been appointed as acting minister.