Russia’s investigation committee says that former Russian Transport Minister Romanian Starovit has been found dead, apparently with a gunshot.
It was rejected earlier on Monday by President Vladimir Putin.
No reason was given to the dismissal of Starovuet and the announcement of the Deputy Minister of Transport André Nikitin as a substitute for him after a short period.
The investigation committee said it is working to create the circumstances of the accident.
Starovoit, Minister of Transport, was appointed in May 2024.
Before that, Starovoit worked as a ruler of the Kursk region for about six years, until May 2024.
The area was partially seized by the Ukrainian forces in August 2024 in a sudden attack. Moscow recently managed to get out of the Ukrainian forces, although Kyiv in late June said it was still carrying a small area of land inside Russia.
The successor of Starovuet, Alexei Smirnov, was in a post for only a short period. He was arrested in April and later accused of embezzling the money allocated to build fortifications on the border with Ukraine.
According to the Russian outlet Kommersant, Starovoit was about to be brought as a defendant in the same case.
It is not clear when, exactly, Starovuwit died.
Andrécatolov, head of the defense committee in Douma, told Russian Outlet RTVI that his death had occurred “a long time ago.”
Earlier on Monday, before the announcement of the death of Starovuet, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was pressured by correspondents about whether the chapter means that Putin has lost confidence in Starovuet on events in Corsak.
“The loss of confidence was mentioned if there is a loss of confidence. This formulation has not been used [in the Kremlin decree]Peskov answered.
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2025-07-07 15:21:00
