Kremlin retracts reports of Putin sending wreath to ex-transport minister’s memorial service
Just hours after former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit’s memorial service on Thursday, the Kremlin’s propaganda machine retracted reports that President Vladimir Putin had sent a funeral wreath to the farewell ceremony.
Starovoit was found dead on Monday, shortly after the Kremlin announced that Putin had dismissed him from his post as Russia’s transport minister. The 53-year-old’s death was officially deemed a suicide.
Starovoit’s memorial service took place in Moscow, at the funeral hall of the Central Clinical Hospital — a heavily guarded medical facility managed by the Russian president’s administrative directorate. According to Shot, a Telegram channel linked to the Russian security services, Starovoit’s body was displayed in an open casket in the funeral hall.
RIA Novosti was the only state news agency to report that Putin had sent a memorial wreath to Starovoit’s service. The news agency then retracted the report several hours later, issuing a note that said it had been “published in error.”
At a press conference earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin didn’t attend Starovoit’s memorial service because he “had a different work schedule today.” The Russian president “doesn’t always attend such sad memorial services,” he added.
Peskov was also asked to confirm whether Putin had in fact sent a memorial wreath to the farewell ceremony. Interfax quoted him as replying, “Yes, the president, of course, traditionally sends his own wreaths.” However, the audio recording of Peskov’s remarks about the wreath was later deleted from the Telegram channel of the state radio station Mayak.
Top Russian officials have not expressed any public condolences over Starovoit’s death. Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that while Kremlin officials were “shocked,” it “wouldn’t be appropriate” to speculate on the circumstances surrounding the former minister’s apparent suicide.
The state news agency TASS reported that about a dozen government ministers attended the memorial service on Thursday. Among them was Starovoit’s former deputy, Andrey Nikitin, who was appointed as the new transport minister earlier this week.
Starovoit, who previously served as governor of Russia’s Kursk Region, had reportedly been under investigation for embezzlement during the construction of defensive structures along the border with Ukraine.
According to media reports, Starovoit is set to be buried in St. Petersburg.
