A few hours after being dismissed as transport minister, Roman Starovoit ended his life by shooting himself, according to the media outlet Izvestiya.

This news was confirmed by Russian authorities, as the Investigative Committee, “the body of Russian former transport minister Roman Vladimirovich Starovoit was found today in his car, bearing a bullet wound”.

Earlier today, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, dismissed his transport minister in an unexpected move that comes at a time of significant challenges for the transport sector, as war in Ukraine is progressing into its fourth year.

Russia’s aviation sector is short of spare parts, and Russian Railways, the country’s biggest employer, is struggling with soaring interest costs as high interest rates, needed to contain higher inflation, exacerbated by the war, take their toll.

Putin’s decree does not justify the dismissal of Roman Starovoit, who sat in the post for just one year. Starovoit was appointed transport minister in May 2024, after spending nearly five years as governor of Kursk, which borders Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Andrei Nikitin, former governor of Novgorod Region, had been appointed deputy transport minister and published photos of him shaking hands with Putin in the Kremlin.

Asked about Starovoit’s sudden departure and Nikitin’s swift appointment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “At present, in the opinion of the president, Andrei Nikitin’s professional qualifications and experience will best contribute to ensuring that this agency, which the president described as extremely important, will fulfill its tasks and functions.”

According to two transport industry sources, plans to replace Starovoit with Nikitin were in the works before last month’s International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, and the Transport Ministry declined to comment.

In his meeting with Putin, Nikitin spoke of the huge task of digitizing the Russian transport industry in an effort to reduce barriers to freight and ensure smoother cross-border flow of goods.

A few months after Starovoit left his role as governor of the Kursk region, Ukrainian troops invaded Kursk across the border as Kiev launched the largest foreign invasion of Russian territory since World War II. Ukrainian forces were driven out of Kursk earlier this year.

Some regional officials in Kursk were subsequently arrested on charges of abuse of power. In April this year, Starovoit’s successor as governor, Alexei Smirnov, was charged with embezzling money intended for defense purposes.

As reported, a third source in the transport industry said that Starovoit’s position had been under question for months, not specifically on transport issues, but on corruption scandals in Kursk.

Peskov, asked further by reporters whether the ministerial change suggests that Putin has lost confidence in Starovoit over Kursk, said, “Loss of confidence refers to whether there is a loss of confidence. There is no such wording in the Kremlin decree.”