Dismissed Russian transport minister found deceased hours following getting fired

(MENAFN) Roman Starovoit, Russia’s recently dismissed Transport Minister, was found dead just hours after President Vladimir Putin removed him from office. The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed on Monday that Starovoit’s body, bearing a gunshot wound, was discovered in a car in Moscow Region. Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko stated that investigators are treating the case as a likely suicide.

According to reports, Starovoit was found in a Tesla near Malevich Park in the Moscow suburb of Odintsovo around 3:00 p.m. local time. A Makarov pistol, said to have been awarded to him, was reportedly located beside his body.

Before taking over the Transport Ministry, Starovoit served as governor of Kursk Region. A source told RT that an investigation was set to be launched against him for allegedly embezzling funds allocated for defense construction projects in Kursk between 2022 and 2024. The source claimed Starovoit could have been detained for questioning later on the same day, with charges potentially involving multimillion-ruble theft.

Last August, Ukraine launched a significant incursion into Kursk Region, initially hailed by Kiev as a major success. However, Russian forces ultimately repelled the attack and expelled Ukrainian troops by late April.

Following Starovoit’s dismissal, his former deputy, Andrey Nikitin, was appointed acting transport minister. Nikitin, who previously governed Novgorod Region, became deputy transport minister in February 2025 and had overseen digital transformation and automation efforts within the transport sector.

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