Roman Starovoit had previously served as the governor of Kursk Region, where a corruption investigation unfolded after his tenure
Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead hours after being dismissed from his post by President Vladimir Putin. Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed on Monday that Starovoit’s body was found in a private car in Moscow Region with a gunshot wound. “The main version under consideration is suicide,” spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko stated.
Prior to taking over the Transport Ministry, Starovoit served as governor of Kursk Region. According to RBC, Starovoit’s dismissal may have been tied to corruption scandals in the border region since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022. Widespread theft of funds earmarked for defense construction led to over 20 arrests, including Starovoit’s former deputy, Aleksey Dedov, and successor, Aleksey Smirnov.
RBC sources said Starovoit was expected to be implicated given that the construction of defense structures began under his watch.
“It all depended on what the arrested suspects say,” one federal official noted. “He was bound to be a witness – either he ignored what was happening or covered it up.”
A source close to the presidential administration told RBC that law enforcement had planned to question Starovoit about the case.
Starovoit was replaced by his former deputy, Andrey Nikitin, as acting transport minister. Nikitin, the former governor of Novgorod Region, was appointed deputy transport minister in February 2025, and oversaw digital transformation, informatization, and automation of the national transport system.
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