By William Miller, for Eurasia Business News, July 8, 2025. Article no. 1602
Former Minister of Transport of Russia Roman Starovoit was found dead in a private car in Odintsovo. This was reported by local media sources. A source close to the presidential administration said that Starovoit committed suicide.
The official representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Svetlana Petrenko, later confirmed the death of Starovoit. The body of the ex-minister was found in a private car with a gunshot wound. The main version is suicide.
On July 7, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree relieving Starovoit of the post of Minister of Transport. Deputy head of the department, ex-governor of the Novgorod region Andrei Nikitin was appointed acting head of the Ministry of Transport. Starovoit spent a little more than a year as minister.
The press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, said that Starovoit’s resignation was not associated with a loss of confidence and such wording was not mentioned in the decree. The Kremlin spokesman explained that Nikitin became the best candidate for the post of head of the Ministry of Transport, since he would contribute to the implementation of the tasks and functions of the department.
The Russia daily Kommersant writes that the defendants in the case of embezzlement of 1 billion rubles allocated for the construction of protective structures on the border with Ukraine testified against Starovoit. Among them is the former governor of the Kursk region Alexei Smirnov. According to the publication, a Makarov award pistol was found next to the body of the ex-minister, which he was awarded in 2023 for special merits in ensuring the safety of citizens.
Roman Starovoit was born on January 20, 1972 in Kursk. His father then worked at the Kursk nuclear power plant, but soon he was transferred to a facility in the Leningrad region. Therefore, Starovoit spent his childhood and youth in St. Petersburg. In 1995, Roman Starovoit graduated from the Baltic State Technical University named after D.F. Ustinov, and in 2008 from the North-West Academy of Public Administration. He is a graduate of the second stream of the School of Governors and a candidate of pedagogical sciences.
Starovoit began his career in the construction industry. In 1995-2001, he worked as the general director of the asset management company of the non-state pension fund Promyshlenny, and in 2002-2005, he worked as the director of the construction company Stroyinvest.
Soon Roman Starovoit became an official. He left the construction companies and moved to the government of St. Petersburg, where he first headed the department for working with investors, and later became the first deputy chairman of the Committee on Investments and Strategic Projects.
Having shown himself well in St. Petersburg, Starovoit went for a promotion to the White House. In 2010-2012, he worked as an assistant and deputy head of the Department of Industry and Infrastructure of the Russian government.
In 2012–2018, he headed the Russian Federal Road Agency (Rosavtodor). In September-October 2018, he was Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, but on October 11 of the same year, he was appointed Acting Governor of the Kursk Region. In September 2019, he was elected head of the region with a result of 81.07% of the vote. In November 2020, he joined United Russia, in 2020-2024 he was the secretary of the Kursk regional branch of the party. On May 14, 2024, he became of the head of the Federal Ministry of Transport.
As the governor of the Kursk region, Starovoit repeatedly visited the Donetsk Popular Republic. After the start of the war on February 24, 2022, the Kursk region took patronage over the water conduit from Berdyansk, Zaporozhye region, to the Pervomaisky district of the DPR. As a result of these activities, Roman Starovoit fell under the sanctions of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine and the United States.
Roman Starovoit headed the Kursk region for about five and a half years. During this time, unemployment rates in the region almost halved – from 4.0 to 2.4%, and the average monthly salary increased from 29,900 to 53,100 rubles The gross regional product of the Kursk region for 2018-2023 increased from 451 billion to 796.5 billion rubles.
Roman Starovoit was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of Honor, the Order of Friendship, the Certificate of Honor of the President of the Russian Federation and the Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation.
On July 7, Vladimir Putin signed a decree relieving Starovoit of the post of Minister of Transport, which he had held since May 2024. A few hours later, his body with signs of suicide was found in his car in Odintsovo near Moscow.
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© Copyright 2025 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 1602.
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