Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead near Moscow on Monday, just hours after President Vladimir Putin fired him following massive disruptions of Russian civilian airspace caused by Ukrainian drone raids.
According to Russian media reports, a gun was found near Starovoit's body. Reports also claim he died in an apparent suicide. However, no official information on the cause of death has been released at this time.
Earlier on Monday, the Kremlin provided no specific details or reasons for the dismissal of Starovoit, who had served as the governor of Russia’s Kursk region before being reappointed transport minister in May 2024.
However, his firing came after almost 300 flights were grounded at major airports over the past weekend due to the latest Ukrainian drone raid.
On Saturday and Sunday, 485 fights ended up getting cancelled, according to the Russian federal aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya.
In total, from early morning on Saturday until Monday morning, some 1,900 flights were delayed due to what the agency referred to as “airspace restrictions imposed on airports in central Russia.”
Kremlin-controlled outlet Komersant reported that the disruptions cost the airlines over 200,000 euros.
Ukraine’s drone raids on Russia
While Russia has intensified its aerial attacks against Ukrainian civilians and residential and energy infrastructure, Kyiv is targeting Russia’s military sites and war infrastructure.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s military general staff said that Ukrainian forces struck the Borisoglebsk air base in Russia’s Voronezh region.
Borisoglebsk is believed to be the home base of Russia’s Su-34, Su-35S and Su-30SM fighter jets.
The Kremlin reported that Russian air defence shot down eight Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow late on Sunday, out of a total of 90 UAVs overnight over Russian territory, the Black Sea and Russia-annexed Crimea.
Most of them were downed over the border regions near Ukraine, but three were also destroyed over the Leningrad region, including the regional capital of St Petersburg, the ministry said on Telegram on Monday.
Kyiv's drone campaign has already disrupted civilian air travel in Russia several times.
At the beginning of May, just days before Moscow’s Victory Day parade, Ukrainian drones caused massive disruption at Moscow’s airports, with 350 flights affected.
