Russia’s Investigative Committee reports that former Transport Minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead, with preliminary findings suggesting a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
His dismissal from the post was announced earlier on Monday by President Vladimir Putin.
The reasons for Starovoit’s dismissal were not disclosed. Andrei Nikitin was named as his successor shortly thereafter.
The Investigative Committee has stated it is currently working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Starovoit was appointed Minister of Transport in May 2024.
Prior to becoming transport minister, Starovoit served as governor of the Kursk region for approximately nine years, until May 2024.
Parts of the Kursk region were briefly seized by Ukrainian forces in August 2024 during a surprise offensive. While Moscow regained control, Kyiv claimed to still hold a small area of territory within Russia as of late June.
Aleksey Smirnov, Starovoit’s successor as governor, held the position briefly before being arrested in April and subsequently accused of embezzling funds allocated for border fortifications with Ukraine.
According to Russian news outlet Kommersant, Starovoit was reportedly about to be named as a defendant in the same embezzlement case.
The precise time of Starovoit’s death remains unclear.
Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, told Russian outlet RTVI that Starovoit’s death occurred “quite a while ago”.
Earlier on Monday, prior to the announcement of Starovoit’s death, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was questioned by reporters regarding whether the dismissal indicated a loss of trust from President Putin due to events in the Kursk region.
Peskov responded, “A loss of trust is mentioned if there is a loss of trust. Such wording was not used [in the Kremlin decree].”
Political scientists have a term for the tactic, that has been used by some leaders including Nixon, to persuade adversaries that they are temperamentally capable of anything, to extract concessions. But can it work in the long term?
Almost every district in the capital sustained damage after Russia fired a record 550 drones, Ukraine says.
The foreign minister in Kabul called Moscow’s decision “courageous”.
Major General Mikhail Gudkov was killed in the Kursk region during what Russia’s defence ministry described as “combat work”.
A magnetic extractor is changing the face of front-line medicine in Ukraine.