War and corruption: what does the tragedy of the Russian minister indicate?

On a lovely evening, just such a pleasant executor Ivan Dmitrich Chervyakov sat in the second row of the theater, watching the play “The Bells of Corneville” through binoculars. Looking at the stage, he felt like the most comfortable viewer in the hall. But suddenly...

This was the introduction to the story “The Death of a Civil Servant” by Russian writer Anton Chekhov. As you can see, today we will talk about the death of a civil servant in Russia and a bit about literature.

Russian minister shot himself

On the morning of July 7, Russian president Putin dismissed the country's transport minister Roman Starovoit. By the evening, the minister committed suicide. The minister shot himself inside a recently purchased Tesla car. Starovoit shot himself with a pistol that the Interior Ministry leadership had given him as a gift in 2023.

Don’t rush to say, “Why should we care that a minister in Russia killed himself?” Firstly, Russia is still the most influential country in the region, and political events there must be followed closely. For example, it is impossible to imagine the economic life of Uzbekistan without Russia.

For four years, Russia has been waging a war to capture the lands of another former union republic — Ukraine. At such a time, political events in Russia become twice as important. The minister who committed suicide yesterday was the former governor of the hottest zone on the Russian front — the Kursk region. Therefore, this incident should be followed.

Ukraine, not getting enough weapons from Western partners, ran into difficulties on the battlefield. Russia continuously recruited people to the front, while mass mobilization was not announced in Ukraine, and full-grown men were still sitting in restaurants smoking hookahs — this led to a critical situation on the front for Kyiv. At such a time, only an extraordinary decision could change the situation. That extraordinary decision was Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. The Ukrainians quickly seized 1,000 sq. km in Kursk and kept it under control for some time. Russia was forced to send large forces to Kursk, call in “volunteers” from North Korea, and had to transfer some groups from Donbass to Kursk. In short, Ukraine achieved its goal.

When Kyiv easily entered Kursk, supporters of the war in Russia began to ask: Where are the border fortifications? Where did the allocated government funds go? Two months before the incursion, Roman Starovoit left the post of Kursk governor and became the transport minister. His place was taken by an assistant named Smirnov, who within a year was arrested “for embezzling” funds allocated for defense.

According to media reports, the same charge could have been brought against Starovoit, who committed suicide. Because Smirnov, who was recently arrested, was the assistant to Governor Starovoit at the time the defense money was allocated. Maybe during the investigation Smirnov gave up his former boss, we do not know, but the fact that the minister committed suicide, and that Putin dismissed him that very morning, suggests that the “top of the tree does not move without reason.”

Victim of war on the course

Now why is this event important? Since February 2022, we have often repeated one thought: never start a war. I do not want to say that Roman Starovoit was a governor who actively supported the war, walked around in military uniform, was close with “Wagner,” or built a political career thanks to the war. This person is a victim of war. Not in the trenches, not on the battlefield, but a victim on the course, in the rear. Our wonderful writer Oʻtkir Hoshimov wrote a story “The Last Victim of War.” In it, an old woman, exhausted from famine, is electrocuted while trying to pick strawberries for her disabled son. The writer calls that woman a victim of war, because she died as a result of poverty brought by war.

Yes, dear friends, war is such a merciless thing that not only soldiers in the trenches or barracks die, but also ordinary old women searching for food, people who go to buy bread in a bombed store, children in strollers going to kindergarten with their mothers. And we have all witnessed that, in war, even high-ranking officials, whole ministers, officials who walk with bodyguards can also die. No rocket strikes, inside a Tesla car, from a pistol gifted by the state...

At the beginning we gave the introduction to Anton Chekhov's story “The Death of a Civil Servant,” and as an epilogue let’s give the ending of the story.

Something broke inside Chervyakov. Not listening, not hearing anything, he crawled to the door, went outside... He doesn’t remember how he got home, didn’t take off his uniform, lay down on the sofa and... died.

Just like the ending of the film “Comrade Boykenjayev,” isn’t it? Dear friends, if you have time, be sure to read the two stories we remembered today. Both are very short, but have great meaning. Be well.

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