Before being appointed transport minister, 53-year-old Starovoit was from 2019 to 2024 governor of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, which borders Ukraine and which Ukrainian forces invaded in a surprise offensive in early August last year and occupied a significant part of Russian territory.
Russian politician Roman Starovoit, who was dismissed from his post as Transport Minister by Vladimir Putin yesterday morning, was found dead later in the day in the Moscow Region. Kommersant newspaper, citing an informed source, as well as other Russian media outlets such as the state news agency TASS, reported that Starovoit was found dead with a gunshot wound in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow Region.
Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Defense Committee of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, also told reporters that the former minister had committed suicide, according to the independent Russian news outlet Meduza. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, Starovoi’s body was found with a gunshot wound in his car in the Odintsovo district. The agency said in a statement that investigators were “working at the scene to determine the circumstances” of the incident and that the leading theory about the cause of death was suicide, as preliminary findings of the investigation so far indicate.
CHARGES
In addition to the news of the death, Russian media also covered some details that preceded the tragic event, which also relate to the ongoing investigations, in which, apparently, Roman Starovoyt is also mentioned. Before being appointed Minister of Transport, 53-year-old Starovoyt was from 2019 to 2024 the governor of Russia’s “Kursk Oblast”, which borders Ukraine and which Ukrainian forces invaded in a surprise offensive in early August last year and occupied a significant part of Russian territory.
Ukrainian forces were pushed back from Kursk in April, but the months-long Ukrainian invasion of Russian territory was the first invasion of Russian soil since World War II and a major embarrassment for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian incursion into Kursk was followed by a series of accusations, which have intensified in recent months, the New York Times reports. According to the independent Russian media outlet Meduza, Alexei Smirnov, Starovoitov’s former deputy and successor as Kursk governor, testified during his trial against him. Smirnov was arrested as part of a criminal case involving the embezzlement of more than a billion rubles from the Regional budget during the construction of defensive structures along the border with Ukraine.
According to the influential Telegram channel Mash, Starovoyt was at the Ministry of Transport yesterday morning, where he was holding a meeting before returning home. According to some reports, he also had a meeting on Sunday morning. However, a source close to the investigators told Forbes Russia that Starovoyt died more than a day earlier. Telegram channels Shot and Baza shared similar reports. Andrey Kartapolov also told RTVI that the suicide occurred “some time ago,” according to Meduza.
Investigative officials told RBC reporters that a weapon was found at the scene that Starovoit received as a reward from the Russian Interior Ministry in 2023. Although the Investigative Committee reported that the body was found in a car, several Telegram channels and a Russian journalist who was reportedly at the scene claim that the body was found in the bushes, a few meters from the vehicle.
UNEXPECTED DOWNLOAD
Putin dismissed Starovoi just over a year after appointing him, according to a decree published on the Kremlin website early on Thursday. The decree, which took effect immediately, did not give a reason for Starovoi’s dismissal, according to the independent Russian newspaper The Moscow Times. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed claims that the former minister had lost Putin’s support. Starovoi’s former deputy, Andrei Nikitin, has been appointed acting transport minister. According to anonymous sources cited by the business newspaper Vedomosti, the decision to dismiss Starovoi was made “several months ago.” The Kremlin released a video of Putin’s meeting with Nikitin.
