[Report by OAN, Wang Kaiwen] On July 7th, local time, the former Russian Transport Minister, Starovoit, was found dead hours after his dismissal. The Businessman reported on July 7th that the death of Starovoit may be related to the corruption case involving border defense works in Russia.
According to TASS, Starovoit’s body was discovered inside his private car parked in Orenburgovo, Moscow suburb, with gunshot wounds. The Moscow Procuratorate is investigating the incident, preliminarily estimating it as a suicide.
Starovoit had been serving as the Russian Transport Minister since May 2024. On the morning of July 7th, President Putin signed an order to remove Starovoit from his position and appointed Deputy Minister of Transport, Andrei Nikitin, as Acting Minister.
CNN reported that when asked about the reasons for Starovoit’s dismissal, Press Secretary Peskov denied it was due to “loss of trust,” but did not provide any other reasons.
In January this year, Putin met with Starovoit at the Kremlin. According to the Kremlin website,
The Businessman pointed out that preliminary information suggests that the cause of Starovoit’s death may be related to the corruption investigation into the construction of border defense works by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. It is possible that Starovoit was one of the main suspects in the case.
Reuters quoted a source in the Russian transportation industry saying that due to the above investigation, Starovoit’s position has been uncertain for several months.
Before becoming the Russian Transport Minister, Starovoit served as the Governor of Kursk State from September 2019 to May 2024.
The Businessman stated that three years ago, during his tenure as Governor, Kursk State began constructing defense works, with the federal budget appropriating more than 19 billion rubles (approximately 1.74 billion RMB) for their management.
In the autumn of 2022, Starovoyt reported the completion of two defensive lines and declared that the region was “ready to withstand any incursion.”
However, just three months after Starovoyt’s departure as governor, in August 2024, Ukrainian forces crossed into Kursk Oblast from the Russian-Ukrainian border. This marked the largest foreign invasion of Russia since World War II until Ukrainian forces withdrew earlier this year.
According to reports, subsequent investigations revealed that these defensive facilities had not been completed before the Ukrainian invasion. In the autumn of 2024, Russian authorities conducted large-scale searches of contractors involved in the construction and arrested several individuals. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation found that contractors and officials embezzled over 4 billion rubles (approximately 365 million yuan) during the construction of the defense projects. Some funds were transferred through affiliated companies, which were used to purchase luxury cars and real estate. In early 2025, the case was taken over by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In April this year, former deputy governor of Kursk Oblast, Alexei Smirnov, was accused of misappropriating national defense funds. Allegations stated that funds originally intended for the construction of defense facilities along the Russian-Ukrainian border were embezzled, making the Kursk region more vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks.
On July 7th, according to Reuters citing multiple Russian media sources, Smirnov told investigators from Russia that Starovoyt was also involved in the case. Smirnov himself denied embezzling national defense funds, while his lawyer declined to comment.
Dead Body Retrieved, “Businessman”
Reports indicate that on July 7th, Starovoyt drove a 2018 Tesla Model X to the scene of the incident. His body was discovered around 15:00 that afternoon, hours after his death. The weapon used by Starovoyt was a Glock pistol, which he received as a reward for his “contributions to maintaining social order” in 2023.
The “Businessman” newspaper speculates that Starovoyt had a premonition of his dismissal. On the morning of July 7, following Putin’s signing of the relevant order, Starovoyt went to the Russian Ministry of Transport and bid farewell to some subordinates, possibly taking a pistol from a safe.
Reuters noted that at the time of Starovoyt’s dismissal, the Russia-Ukraine conflict had entered its fourth year, and the Russian transportation sector was facing severe challenges: on one hand, the Russian aviation industry was facing shortages of parts, while on the other hand, the Russian railway company, being Russia’s largest employer, was bearing heavy interest costs due to war-induced inflation.
Moreover, frequent drone intrusions by Ukraine often forced Russian airports to suspend operations for safety reasons, sometimes causing significant traffic disruptions. According to the Federal Air Transport Service of Russia, affected by drone interference, from July 5th to 6 AM on July 7th, Russian airlines canceled 485 flights and delayed 1900 inbound and outbound flights.
According to the Kremlin website, during the meeting with Putin on July 7th, Nikitin stated his efforts to promote the digitalization of the Russian transportation industry, alleviate freight bottlenecks, and ensure smoother cross-border goods flow.
On July 7th local time, Putin met with Andrei Nikitin, the newly appointed Minister of Transport of Russia. The Kremlin website reported that Putin expressed his hope that Nikitin would fully commit and leverage his knowledge, professional skills, and organizational abilities to address a series of critical tasks in the transportation sector.
When asked about Nikitin’s rapid appointment, Peskov said that Putin believed he possessed the professional qualities and experience suitable for this position.
It is worth mentioning that another Russian Ministry of Transport official, Andrei Korenchukh, was also found dead on July 7th. Reports indicate that his body was discovered at work that day. There are no signs yet that these two deaths are related.
TASS, citing medical sources, reported that Korenchuk’s death was due to “cardiac arrest,” ruling out the possibility of murder or external intervention.