Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt, and hours later investigators found him dead with a gunshot wound in his private car, according to ABC News Australia’s report based on Russian official statements and state media.
The Kremlin said Starovoyt had been relieved of the post of minister of transport after just over a year in the role. The dismissal came by presidential decree and gave no official reason.
Shortly after the firing, Russia’s Investigative Committee said the body of the former minister was found in the Odintsovo district in his private vehicle. The agency said its main working theory was suicide. Russian state media and news agencies also reported that he had shot himself.
The report said there had been conflicting accounts about the exact timing of his death, but the broad sequence was clear: dismissal first, then the discovery of the body. The article also noted that a pistol reportedly belonging to Starovoyt was found alongside him in the car.
Starovoyt had previously governed the Kursk region, and analysts in Russia linked his removal to speculation about corruption investigations there. The ABC report said his successor as governor, Alexei Smirnov, had earlier been charged with embezzling funds earmarked for defense purposes.
The dismissal and death came after a weekend of travel disruption at Russian airports following Ukrainian drone attacks, adding to the political tension around transport security. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied that the decree itself referred to a loss of trust, even as speculation mounted over the real reason for Starovoyt’s removal.
The case now sits at the intersection of Kremlin personnel politics, alleged corruption, and an unexplained death that Russian investigators are treating as a likely suicide.
The political setting around Starovoyt's dismissal matters because the report ties his fall to a period of transport disruption and speculation about corruption in Kursk. That makes the story more than a personnel change; it becomes a window into how Kremlin decisions, regional investigations and wartime pressure can collide around one official.
The suicide finding is still a preliminary investigation, not a final independent conclusion, but the sequence of events is stark enough to dominate the story. A fired minister found dead in his car hours later is the kind of case that leaves open both personal and political questions, and the ABC report reflects that uncertainty.
The report also makes clear that the Kremlin did not explain the dismissal, which is part of why the story has drawn so much attention. A firing without a reason, followed by a death investigators treat as a likely suicide, leaves a vacuum filled by speculation about corruption and political trust. The ABC account stays close to the official sequence, which is the strongest verified thread in a fast-moving and sensitive case.
