Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit is reported to have died by suicide on Monday, a mere hours after being dismissed from his post by President Vladimir Putin, according to Kremlin officials.
Hours prior to Starovoit's death, Putin signed the order removing him from office, with the official decree having been quickly published on the Kremlin’s website. Deputy Minister Andrey Nikitin has been named as acting transport minister in the wake of the dismissal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was questioned by reporters on the firing, but did not provide details or a specific reason for the sudden change, but he did deny that it was due to a "lack of trust" when asked.
According to emerging details conveyed through Russian state sources:
The Investigative Committee of Russia said in a statement that Starovoit’s body was found inside a car in Odintsovo, a suburb of Moscow. He was found with a gunshot wound, the committee said. It said the circumstances of his death were being investigated but the “main theory is suicide.”
Starovoit had barely served a year in the job, after being appointed in May 2024. Before that he was governor of the Kursk region bordering Ukraine for nearly half a decade.
As Kursk governor, he had faced severe criticism and scrutiny for security lapses which allowed for last summer's Ukrainian invasion and occupation of large swathes of Russian soil, which lasted for well over six months.
Starovoit's dismissal may have served as a public accountability scapegoat of sorts related to widespread public frustration and anger over weeks of commercial travel delays.
Russia has witnessed weeks of disruptions to air travel across almost every major city in the Western and most populated portion of the country, due to constant drone assaults out of Ukraine.
The Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport has lately said that 485 flights have been canceled, 88 rerouted, and approximately 1,900 experienced delays just over this past weekend and into Monday.
Ukraine's military and intelligence leadership has lately openly boasted that its actions targeted against Russian soil have disrupted daily life there, in order to put pressure on the Putin government, and destabilize society.
Given the recent history of deaths of top officials, and even oil execs - often under mysterious circumstances -Starovoit's death is also raising eyebrows and fueling speculation that it may be foul play. For example there was this headline from merely days ago...
"Top Russian oil executive dies in Moscow window fall" - https://t.co/ea6qFb9udz
— Craig Rozniecki (@CraigRozniecki) July 5, 2025
CNBC highlights a potential corruption scandal: "A presidential decree published earlier on Monday gave no reason for the dismissal of Roman Starovoit after barely a year in the job, though political analysts were quick to raise the possibility that he may have been dismissed in connection with an investigation into corruption in the region he once ran," the report says.
It continues: "Reuters could not independently confirm these suggestions, though a transport industry source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Starovoit’s position had been in question for months due to questions about the same corruption scandal, which centred on funds earmarked for fortifying Russia’s border with Ukraine in the Kursk region."
