Russia’s transport minister has been found dead with a gunshot wound, hours after he was fired by President Vladimir Putin.
A presidential decree published earlier on Monday gave no reason for the dismissal of Roman Starovoit after barely a year in the job.
But political analysts were quick to raise the possibility that he may have been dismissed in connection with an investigation into corruption in the region he once ran.
A transport industry source told Reuters that Starovoit’s position had been in question for months due to questions about a corruption scandal that centred on funds earmarked for fortifying Russia’s border with Ukraine in the Kursk region.
Mystery surrounds the exact timing of the 53-year-old’s death, with Russia’s Investigative Committee making a statement that it was working to establish the precise circumstances surrounding his death.
Law enforcement sources saed a pistol belonging to Starovoit had been found in his Tesla alongside his body, although other Russian media reports suggest he was found in a nearby bush.
Pictures from the scene show the black Tesla in a car park, with local news outlet Mash reporting that his 25-year-old girlfriend, Polina Korneev, was the one who identified his body.
Before being appointed transport minister in May 2024, Starovoit had been governor of the Kursk region for nearly five years.
Russia’s sacked transport minister Roman Starovoit (pictured) has been found dead in his Tesla outside Moscow with a gunshot wound
Former transport minister Roman Starovoit, 53, was reportedly found dead near his Tesla
The gun Starovoit reportedly used to shoot himself was awarded to him by the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2023
Vladimir Putin (pictured) gave no reason for Starovoit’s dismissal
Three months after he became transport minister, Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Kursk in the biggest foreign incursion into Russian territory since World War Two and were only pushed out earlier this year after fierce fighting and widespread destruction.
In April this year, Starovoit’s successor as governor, Alexei Smirnov, was charged with embezzling money earmarked for defence purposes amid accusations that the funds earmarked for border defences had been stolen, leaving Kursk more vulnerable to Ukrainian attack.
Pressed earlier on Monday by reporters on whether his dismissal meant Putin had lost trust in Starovoit over Kursk, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ‘a loss of trust is mentioned if there is a loss of trust’.
‘There is no such wording in the (Kremlin) decree.’
Starovoit’s dismissal comes at a time of significant challenges for Russia’s transport sector as the war in Ukraine drags on for a fourth year.
Russia’s aviation sector is short of spare parts and Russian Railways, the country’s largest employer, is grappling with soaring interest costs as high rates – needed to curb higher inflation exacerbated by the war – take their toll.
The Kremlin said Andrei Nikitin, a former governor of the Novgorod region, had been appointed acting transport minister and it published photographs of him shaking hands with Putin in the Kremlin.
Asked about Nikitin’s swift appointment, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said: ‘At present, in the president’s opinion, Andrei Nikitin’s professional qualities and experience will best contribute to ensuring that this agency, which the president described as extremely important, fulfils its tasks and functions.’
Local media reported that his 25-year-old girlfriend Polina Korneev (pictured) was the one who identified his body
Russian Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, Russia January 30, 2025
Two transport industry sources said plans to replace Starovoit with Nikitin had been in the works since before last month’s International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.
The transport ministry declined to comment on Monday.
At his meeting with Putin, Nikitin spoke about working on the huge task of digitising Russia’s transport industry in an effort to reduce cargo bottlenecks and ensure smoother cross-border flows of goods.
It comes just days after a top Russian oil tycoon died after mysteriously plunging 180ft from a window at his luxury Moscow home.
The body of Andrey Badalov, 62, was discovered on Friday morning at the bottom of an exclusive high-rise apartment building in Moscow’s affluent Rublevskoye neighbourhood.
Badalov was the vice-president of state-owned oil pipeline monopoly Transneft.
He reportedly lived on the building’s 10th floor but fell from the 17th storey, according to local media.
A source said the ‘preliminary cause’ of death is ‘suicide’, as investigators reportedly discovered a note Badalov had left to his wife.
It comes just days after top Russian oil tycoon Andrey Badalov, 62, died after mysteriously falling from a window last week
His body was discovered on Friday morning at the bottom of a luxury high-rise building in the Russian capital
Badalov had been appointed vice-president for the oil giant in 2021 during a ‘complex and tense period’ and had been credited with helping the company ‘overcome the challenges’ posed by Western sanctions.
He previously worked at the state-owned Voskhod Scientific Research Institute.
He had also studied at the General Staff Academy of the Armed Forces, which trains high-level officers and state managers.
The tycoon leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
But these are just the latest examples in a spate of unexplained deaths of leading Russian figures under mysterious circumstances.
In these cases, individuals have died falling from windows, apparent suicides and in accidents. Some have been known to be critics of Vladimir Putin.
Top Russian oligarch Mikhail Rogachev, 64, was found dead back in October after mysteriously falling from a 110ft window in Moscow.
Badalov was the vice-president of state-owned oil pipeline monopoly Transneft
These are the latest examples of nexplained deaths of leading Russian figures under mysterious circumstances. Several who have died suspicious deaths are known to be critics of Putin (pictured)
Rogachev was the vice-president of Russian oil giant Yukos, which was forced out of business for turning against Putin.
TV channels reported that he lived on the tenth floor and that it was a suicide, claiming he had cancer and left a note.
But these reports were vehemently denied by his close friends and relatives.
His family insisted there were no signs that he was suicidal and he was in a ‘good mood’ shortly before his death.
Rogachev had a long and successful career in some of post-Soviet Russia’s leading companies.
Separately, Lukoil tycoon Ravil Maganov, 67, fell from a window of Moscow’s elite Central Clinical Hospital, also known as the Kremlin Clinic, in September 2022.
Russian state media quickly said his death was a suicide but law enforcement sources said there was no suicide note and there were no CCTV cameras on the section of the building where Maganov fell.
Lukoil is a major Russian energy company and of of the largest oil producers worldwide.
Maganov was then replaced by Vladimir Nekrasov – in October 2023, who died aged 66 of ‘acute heart failure’ in October 2023.
The following month, Russian senator and war backer, Vladimir Lebedev, with close Lukoil links, died suddenly in an unexplained ‘terrible tragedy’ aged 60.
The Russian tycoon was found hanged in his office toilet by his boss.
Last March, Lukoil’s vice-president Vitaly Robertus, 53, became victim to the firm’s death curse.
Then a prominent female judge was found dead after falling from a Moscow high-rise building.
Natalia Larina, 50, was notorious for handling high-profile political and criminal cases, punishing traitors of the Kremlin.
She had been a criminal judge for more than 15 years – and had a reputation for ruling verdicts on cases against opposition political activists.
In December 2023, Vladimir Egorov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, plunged to his death from a third-floor window in Moscow.
The 46-year-old Egorov was a wealthy and prominent politician in oil-rich Tobolsk in western Siberia.
His corpse was found in the yard of his house, according to reports.
Just weeks prior, the deputy editor of Putin’s favourite propaganda newspaper was found dead aged only 35.
The body of Anna Tsareva, 35, was discovered at her home in the capital’s Bolshoy Tishinsky Lane – nearly a year after the death of her boss Vladimir Sungorkin, 68.
In February of the same year, a top Russian defence official and a key figure in the funding of Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine Marina Yankina, 58, also fell 160ft to her death in St Petersburg.
She was head of the financial support department of the Ministry of Defence for the Western Military District, which is closely involved in the dictator’s invasion.
