Gunshot wound: Russia’s Minister of Transport found dead after discharge

Minister of Transport Roman Starowoit, who was just released by Vladimir Putin, was found dead with a gunshot wound in a car. This was announced by the central investigation committee in Moscow.

“The circumstances of the incident are currently being investigated. The main version is suicide,” said the spokeswoman for the investigative authority, Swetlana Petrenko. Previously, Russian media had also reported that the 53-year-old politician is said to have shot himself in the Moscow region at his place of residence. There was initially no official confirmation for reports according to which the minister is said to have committed suicide at the weekend.

In the decree of Putin, published in Moscow on Monday, there are no reasons why the former governor of the West Russian area Kursk had to clear his post again in May last year. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow also did not comment on the reasons. Andrej Nikitin, who was previously Starowoit’s deputy, was appointed Managing Minister of Transport.

It was unclear why Starowoit might have committed suicide. According to the media, the politician of the Kremlin party could have been blamed by the media. From his time, these come as governor of the Kursk area, in which Ukrainian troops had taken dozens of towns in August last year.

Starowoit’s successor as governor, Alexej Smirnow, was arrested for alleged fraud. Smirnow became governor of Kursk in May 2024. After entering Ukrainian troops into the area, he had to step down in December 2024. The procedure against Smirnow is about the fact that funds for the construction of fastening systems on the border to Ukraine are not said to have been issued accordingly. The fact that the Ukrainian troops were apparently able to march in there without any problems had been horrified by Russia and triggered critical questions.

These fastening lines were allegedly built against Ukraine shortly after the beginning of Putin’s war of aggression. As governor, Starowoit had already reported the completion of these systems upwards.

Nothing is known about investigations against him. However, media reported in Moscow that Starowoit could also be targeted by the investigators. Accordingly, he could have threatened up to 20 years in prison, if there was a conviction for embezzlement of funds in the construction of the border protection systems.

Russian commentators also cited chaos on the Russian airports as a possible reason for the release. Because of the frequent Ukrainian drone attacks, there are hundreds of flights in the middle of the holidays. Passengers are sometimes at thousands on the airports because no starts and landings are possible. The Russian newspaper “Kommersant” reported high financial losses in the aviation industry on Monday.