They find the Minister of Russian Transportation dead hours after being dismissed by Vladimir Putin

- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News World
1 hour

The former Russian transportation, Roman Starovoit, was found dead with a bullet on the head on Monday on the outskirts of Moscow, hours after President Vladimir Putin dismissed him from his position.

The researchers “are working at the scene to determine the circumstances of the incident. The main version is that it was suicide,” said the Russian Research Committee.

Starovoit's body, 53, was found in his private vehicle in the District of Odintsovo, added the committee.

This Monday Putin had signed a decree on Starovoit's departure from the Ministry of Transportation of Russia. The document did not detail the reasons for dismissal.

Russia has recently faced serious transport problems during the war conflict with Ukraine.

Starovoit's death occurs after a series of Ukrainian attacks in the main Russian airports and in the midst of violent incidents such as fires and explosions in transport lines, mainly railway, and sabotage cases.

The Federal Air Transport Agency reported that there were almost 500 cancellations and 2,000 postponements of flights during the weekend for security reasons, related to attacks by Ukrainian drones.

These attacks generated a wave of chaos in Russian airports, especially in those of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Thousands of passengers were stranded and the train tickets rapidly sold out.

Recently, Ukrainian forces have intensified their drones attacks. The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, who has insisted on asking for more support from the countries of the West, announced agreements with the United States and Denmark to increase the production of drones in order to hit strategic infrastructure in Russian territory.

Controversy for the construction of defense works in the Kursk region

Starovoit was appointed Minister of Transportation in May 2024.

Before assuming that position, Starovoit was governor of the Kursk region.

The region was partially occupied by Ukrainian troops in August 2024 in a surprise offensive. Moscow only recently managed to expel Ukrainian forces, although at the end of June kyiv said he still controlled a small area of territory within Russia.

Starovoit's successor, Aleksey Smirnov, held the position for a brief period.

He was arrested in April and subsequently accused of embezzling funds for the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine.

According to the Russian medium Kommersant, Starovoit was about to be charged in the same case.

The exact date of his death is unknown.

The president of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, told the Russian environment RTVI that his death occurred “a long time ago.”

On Monday, before the death of Starovoit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov was announced, was interrogated by the press about whether the dismissal meant that Putin had lost confidence in Starovoit after Kursk's events.

“There is talk of loss of confidence if there is such loss. That expression was not used (in the Kremlin decree),” Peskov replied.

Putin appointed the former governor of the Nóvgorod region, Andrei Nikitin, who served as Deputy Minister of Transportation as a new minister of transport.