As scattered details of the apparent suicide of Russia’s former transport minister Roman Starovoit trickled in via state media on Monday, one stood out. Near his body, the Kommersant newspaper reported,

Russia's former transport minister was found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound, hours after President Vladimir Putin fired him.

Russia's Investigative Committee, the top criminal investigation agency, said Mr Starovoit's body was discovered in his vehicle parked in Odintsovo, a neighbourhood west of Moscow where members of the country's elite live.