Putin threw him out Mystery and speculation surrounding Russia's dead transport minister
Roman Starovoit was only Minister of Transport in Russia for a short time, then Kremlin leader Putin threw him out. His death was announced on the same day. There is a second death - and many questions and speculations.
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- Shortly after he was dismissed by Vladimir Putin, Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead.
- According to official statements, the 53-year-old is said to have shot himself, which is doubted by some observers.
- There is speculation about the circumstances of his death with regard to scandals and power games, and a second death is also a mystery.
A few hours after his dismissal by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Russia's Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found with a gunshot wound to the temple near his home. "The circumstances of the incident are currently being investigated. The main version is suicide," said Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman for the investigating authority. According to her, the 53-year-old's body was found in his private car.
However, the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel "Shot", which has more than one million subscribers, showed videos of investigators not pulling Starovait's body out of the car, but carrying it out of a bush. A Tesla that the minister is said to have driven privately can also be seen. His assistant can also be seen on videos; she is said to have been his mistress and to have identified the father of the family.
Many questions and a second death in the ministry
Numerous Russian media outlets had previously reported that the politician had allegedly shot himself at his home in Odintsovo in the Moscow region. The pistol is said to have been lying next to him.
Several bloggers doubted the official version of the investigation committee and said that the case raised many questions. There was initially no official confirmation of various reports that the minister had taken his own life at the weekend while still in office.
Several media outlets also reported another mysterious death at the Ministry of Transport on Monday. A senior civil servant aged 42, who was mentioned by name several times, is said to have died at a meeting there. There is talk of a cardiac arrest - there was initially no official confirmation of this.
Speculation about power games and murder
Commentators on political Telegram channels speculated that Starowoit could have been shot or pressured into committing suicide as part of power games.
Other cases of criminal prosecution of ministers or high-ranking officials in the past have shown that even a prison sentence is no reason to take one's own life, because the prison conditions for such members of the power apparatus are comfortable and the sentences are not served to the end, they said.
Putin's decree on the politician's release, published in Moscow on Monday, does not give any reasons why the former governor of the western Russian region of Kursk, who was only promoted in May last year, had to leave his post again. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also did not comment on the reasons. The sometimes used formulation of a loss of trust was missing from the decree, as Peskov confirmed.
Andrei Nikitin, previously Starovoit's deputy, was appointed acting transport minister.
Involved in scandal over lack of border protection in Kursk?
It was unclear why Starovoit might have taken his own life. According to the media, the politician from the Kremlin party "United Russia" could have been accused of failings from his time as governor of the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops captured dozens of villages in August last year.
Starovoit's successor as governor, Alexei Smirnov, has been arrested for alleged fraud. Smirnov became governor of Kursk in May 2024. He was forced to resign in December 2024 after Ukrainian troops invaded the region.
The case against Smirnov concerns the alleged inappropriate spending of funds for the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine. The fact that Ukrainian troops were able to invade there in August, seemingly without any problems, had sparked horror and critical questions across Russia.
Other reasons for dismissal also suspected
These fortification lines were allegedly built as early as 2022, shortly after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by Putin. As governor, Starovoit had already reported the completion of these facilities to the top. Then the Ukrainian troops invaded.
Nothing is known about investigations against Starovoit. However, media in Moscow reported that he himself could have been targeted by investigators. According to these reports, he could have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted of embezzling funds for the construction of the border protection facilities.
Russian commentators also cited the chaos at Russian airports as a possible reason for the dismissal. Hundreds of flights were recently canceled in the middle of the vacations due to frequent Ukrainian drone attacks. Thousands of passengers were sometimes stranded because take-offs and landings were not possible. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Monday about high financial losses in the aviation industry.
