Russian Ex-Minister Dies After Sudden Dismissal by Putin

Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was sacked by President Vladimir Putin on Monday, and by the afternoon, his body was found in a park on the outskirts of Moscow with a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators presumed he took his own life. Starovoit had previously been the governor of the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops broke through defensive fortifications built under his leadership, and his successor and former deputy have been arrested and charged with large-scale fraud. The Russian press has speculated that Starovoit may have been involved in the alleged fraud and feared prosecution, with some drawing parallels to the repressive era of Stalin's rule. The Kremlin has remained tight-lipped about the incident, and state TV downplayed the news, dedicating only 18 seconds to it, suggesting that the authorities are trying to minimize the impact of the event on public opinion. Experts warn that Starovoit's death serves as a warning to the political elite, highlighting the dangers of falling out of favor with the system.

Russia's former Transport Minister Roman Starovoytov died of a suspected suicide just hours after being fired by President Vladimir Putin, according to state media. Starovoytov fatally shot himself in his car, with the Investigative Committee citing suicide as the main hypothesis. Putin had dismissed Starovoytov earlier that day, with no official reason given, amid ongoing Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia that caused chaos for air traffic. Another Transport Ministry official, Andrei Korneichuk, also died suddenly during a meeting, with the preliminary cause of death determined to be cardiac arrest. The deaths come amid a string of high-profile Russians dying suddenly, often in apparent accidents or suicides.

Roman Starovoyt, Russia's former transport minister and ex-governor of the Kursk region, was found dead from a gunshot wound hours after being fired by President Vladimir Putin. Starovoyt, 53, was discovered in his car by his 25-year-old girlfriend, Polina Korneeva, in an affluent neighborhood outside Moscow. Russia's Investigative Committee is investigating the circumstances surrounding his death, including the possibility of suicide. Starovoyt had been transport minister since May 2024, after serving as governor of Kursk for over five years, a region that was invaded by Ukraine earlier this year, prompting a rebuke from Putin and the arrest of officials accused of embezzlement.