The Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovitt, and he committed suicide, turning the gun to himself, reported the Izvestiya media. The decree did not mention the reason for the removal of Starovitt.
Putin replaced him with Deputy Minister of Transport Andrei Nikitin, who will now take on debt of service minister. According to anonymous sources cited by the Economic Newspaper Vedomosti, the decision to replace Starovitt had been taken “several months ago”.
“I hope you use all your energy, knowledge, skills and organizational skills to face the critical challenges of this area,” Putin said in a meeting with Nikitin. Nikitin had resigned from the position of governor of the northwest area of Novgorod in February to take on the duties of deputy minister.
A reference to ‘predictable’
Putin had appointed the Staroviti head of the Ministry of Transport in May 2024, after re -election for another six -year presidential term. Starovitt had previously served as governor of the southwestern Kursk region, near the border with Ukraine, from 2018 to 2024.
His term of office as a commander was again under the microscope after Ukraine’s unexpected invasion of the Kursk area in August 2024. Since then, police have made several high -profile arrests, including his successor, Alexei Smirnov.
Although Starovititt has not been directly involved in the ongoing police investigations, Russian media reported that the violated border defense structures, built during his term of office, cost nearly 15 billion rubles (about $ 191).
Political analyst Gevgeni Mindchenko described Starovitt’s dismissal as “predictable”, adding that “the situation in the Kursk region caught it”. Mindchenk also described Nikitin as a “conservative” choice for a replacement.
