Russian media outlets reported the death of Roman Starovoit, who had recently been relieved of his duties as Minister of Transport in President Vladimir Putin’s administration. According to the presidential spokesperson, his dismissal occurred earlier on Monday. Starovoit was discovered shot inside his vehicle on the outskirts of Moscow, shortly after being notified of his removal from office. Official sources in Russia have indicated that the cause of death is believed to be suicide.
Mysterious death
A controversy in recent days has led Putin to put Starovoit’s work as minister under scrutiny. It is a constant disruption in Russian air transport. As a consequence of the flight of Ukrainian drones that caused cancellations and riots in Moscow and St. Petersburg, due to the risk of them attacking the main cities, Starovoit was removed from his post. Russia’s security was put at risk and Putin decided to act with the dismissal.
According to Russian sources, more than 480 flights were cancelled and another 2000 were at risk of being hit by drones of Ukrainian origin, in what is still known as the war between Ukraine and Russia, which continues with active fronts and in full war activity. The former Russian Minister of Transport, who died on Monday morning, was also governor of the Kursk region and seemed to be a man Vladimir Putin trusted.
Last minute change
Through a decree, the revocation of Roman Starovoit’s position was made official by Putin himself, who decided to announce it through his presidential spokesman. As a result, Andrey Nikitin, the current deputy head of the Ministry of Transport, took over the position vacated after Roman Starovoit’s death. According to the investigation, the main hypothesis is suicide, but the cause of death on the outskirts of Moscow is not yet known in detail.
The string of attempted drone attacks, which numbered more than 400, as announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense, was enough for Starovoit’s dismissal. Classified as “external interceptions”, it was later revealed that they were of Ukrainian origin, with drones that sought to cause fear in the main Russian cities.
This mysterious death with as yet unknown consequences comes two days after the death of Andrei Badalov, vice-president of a Russian state-owned company, one of the most important in the country. The causes of his death, according to the TASS agency, are due to a fall from one of the windows of his house, near the capital, Moscow. The case was preliminarily ruled a suicide.
More information became known in the last hours, when they detailed that Badolov fell more than 17 floors down to end up in the courtyard of one of the apartments in the area. The strangeness of the case is that he did not fall from his apartment, since he lived on the 10th floor, lower than the place from where he fell.
Thus, there are several mysterious deaths without details such as those of Roman Starovoit and Andrei Badolov that have been added in recent times in Russia. Whether they are linked to the executive power or to the energy industry, a strong industry in Putin’s country.
Attacks continue
While Putin’s punishment of Starovoit was the dismissal for the possibility of attacks on Moscow and St. Petersburg, the attacks on Ukrainian territory continue. During Monday morning, more than 30 people were injured after attacks on Odessa, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk, areas where the war intensified from the beginning.
