The fired Russian transport minister was discovered shot and killed in a car
Roman Starovoit, the fired Russian transport minister, was found dead in his car with an unidentified gunshot wound.
Just hours after President Vladimir Putin signed an order dismissing him from office, Roman Starovoit, Russia’s newly fired transport minister, was discovered dead from a gunshot wound in his car outside of Moscow on Monday.
Although the precise circumstances of his death are still being investigated, the Investigative Committee, which oversees significant criminal cases, verified the discovery and stated that suicide was being regarded as the principal line of inquiry.
There was no explanation provided in the official Kremlin decree that announced Starovoit’s termination. Political observers, however, quickly conjectured that it might be connected to a current probe into corruption in the Kursk area, which Starovoit oversaw prior to taking over as minister of transportation in May 2024.
Due to the delicate nature of the case, a source in the transport sector who spoke on condition of anonymity informed reporters that Starovoit’s role had been questioned for months due to his suspected involvement in the embezzlement of money intended to fortify Russia’s border with Ukraine.
According to Russian media reports, Starovoit’s registered pistol was discovered next to his body.
Starovoit managed the area through a period of severe strife while serving as governor of Kursk. The biggest cross-border assault on Russian territory since World War Two occurred in 2024, three months after he was appointed minister of transportation, when Ukrainian forces made a significant incursion into the Kursk area. Only after intense battle earlier this year was it repulsed.
The scandal escalated in April after Alexei Smirnov, Starovoit’s successor, was officially accused of embezzling money intended for Kursk’s military defenses. According to the accusations, the region’s security had been jeopardized by the corruption, making it more vulnerable to Ukrainian aggression.
“A loss of trust is mentioned if there is a loss of trust,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question on Monday about whether Putin’s firing of Starovoit represented a betrayal of confidence. The decree doesn’t contain such language.
