Minister fired by Putin shoots himself dead

Yesterday, July 7, the head of the Russian Ministry of Transport, Roman Starovoit, was dismissed from his post by decree of the country's President Vladimir Putin.

After that, the body of 53-year-old Starovoit was found in the Odintsovo urban district with gunshot wounds.

The pistol that Starovoit was awarded was also found at the scene of his death. It is believed that he shot himself with the same award weapon he received from the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Starovoit has been serving as minister for a little over a year - since May 2024. Prior to that, he was the governor of the Kursk region for more than five years.

Alexey Smirnov, who served as governor after Starovoit, quickly resigned and was arrested in April 2025 on suspicion of embezzling 1 billion rubles from funds allocated for the construction of defensive structures on the border with Ukraine.