Russian Minister commits suicide after being fired by Putin

Monday, July 7, 2025 -Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit killed himself hours after being fired by President Vladimir Putin.

Starovoit was found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound.

"The circumstances of the incident are being established. The main version is suicide," Svetlana Petrenko,  spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative Committee, said in a statement.

Putin fired Starovoit without giving an official reason for his dismissal.

Starovoit's position had been in question for months due to questions about a corruption scandal that centered on funds earmarked for fortifying Russia's border with Ukraine in the Kursk region, according to a transport industry source who spoke with Reuters.

Before being appointed to that transport post in May 2024, Starovoit was governor of the Kursk region for nearly five years.

Three months after he became transport minister, Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Kursk in the biggest foreign incursion into Russian territory since World War II and were pushed out earlier this year only after fierce fighting and widespread destruction.