Former Russian transport minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead, hours after he was dismissed from the position through a presidential decree.
Russia’s federal Investigative Committee says he was found in his personal car, in the district of Odintsovo in western Moscow, having sustained a gunshot wound. It states that it is working on an assumption of suicide.
The transport ministry has confirmed his death, without elaborating. “He will remain a person whose authority, professional knowledge and willingness to help in difficult times will never be forgotten,” the ministry adds.
The short presidential decree, issued on 7 July, does not specify a reason for the decision.
It simply refers to an order to “dismiss” Starovoit from the post of transport minister, effective immediately.
Starovoit had been appointed only last year, taking over the post from former Aeroflot Group chief Vitaly Saveliev, who was promoted to deputy chair of the government. Starovoit had previously served as governor of the Kursk region since 2018.
After the dismissal, Russian president Vladimir Putin named Starovoit’s deputy, Andrei Nikitin, as acting transport minister, pending parliamentary approval to hold the post full-time.
“I would like to invite you to take another step forward on your career ladder,” Putin told Nikitin at a meeting on 7 July.
Putin added that prime minister Mikhail Mishustin valued Nikitin’s ability to achieve results “in a relatively short time”.
“I hope that you will apply all your efforts, knowledge, skills, and organisational abilities to solve those tasks, the most important tasks, that are in this field,” he said.
Nikitin informed Putin about work underway on digital technology, and replied that he would make “absolutely every effort” to ensure that the transport industry develops at “more than just an accelerated pace”.
“We are the largest country in the world, and we must have the most efficient transport system,” he added. “Our economy and our people need this.”
