Gambiaj.com – (MOSCOW, Russia) – Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit died in an apparent suicide on Monday, just hours after President Vladimir Putin dismissed him from his post, Russian authorities confirmed.
Starovoit, who had been appointed transport minister in May 2024, was found dead with a gunshot wound inside a car in Odintsovo, a suburb of Moscow, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia. Officials said an investigation is underway, but the “main theory is suicide.”
His dismissal was announced on Monday morning via a decree published on the Kremlin’s official website. Deputy Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin has been named as acting minister.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to provide a reason for Starovoit’s sudden dismissal but rejected suggestions that it was related to a “lack of trust.”
Prior to his cabinet role, Starovoit served as governor of the Kursk region in southern Russia. Although he left the governorship before Ukraine’s unexpected cross-border raid into the region, he was partially blamed for regional security failures.
His firing also coincided with major disruptions to Russia’s air travel sector over the weekend, during which nearly 500 flights were canceled and close to 2,000 delayed. Russian aviation authorities attributed the chaos to “external interference,” without elaborating. However, the Defense Ministry said that it had intercepted over 400 Ukrainian aerial strikes during the same timeframe.
Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed responsibility for a strike on a chemical plant in Krasnozavodsk, just north of Moscow, alleging the facility produces pyrotechnics and thermobaric warheads for Shahed-type drones.
Ukraine also reported another wave of deadly Russian strikes, with at least 12 civilians killed and over 90 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine within a 24-hour span to Monday morning, according to Ukrainian officials.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was particularly hard hit. A drone strike early Monday damaged a residential building, a kindergarten, and a commercial area, injuring at least 29 people, including three children aged 3, 7, and 11, city authorities said. Hours later, another drone attack on the city injured at least 17 more residents.
