Roman Vladimirovich Starovoit is a Russian statesman and politician. Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation from May 14, 2024 to July 7, 2025. Governor of Kursk Oblast (September 16, 2019 - May 14, 2024, acting October 11, 2018 - September 16, 2019). Active State Advisor of the Russian Federation, 1st class.

Biography
Father, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Starovoit, worked at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.

In 1974, his father was transferred to the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, in the city of Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad Oblast, where Roman spent his childhood.

Education

In 1995, he graduated from the Baltic State Technical University named after D. F. Ustinov, specializing in "Pulse Heat Engines".

In 2008, he graduated from the North-West Academy of Public Administration, specializing in "State and Municipal Administration".

In 2012, he defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of pedagogical sciences at the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation on the topic "Innovative methods of training athletes in winter polyathlon".

In 2019, he completed training in the program for the development of the personnel management reserve of the Higher School of Public Administration (HSPA) of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

Work experience In business

In 1995, he was the executive director of JSC "Regional Investment Agency".

In 1995-2001 - General Director of the asset management company NPF "Industrial".

In 2002-2005, he was the owner and General Director of the construction company "Stroyinvest".

In the apparatus of ministries and departments of the Russian Federation

From 2005 to 2007, he held the position of head of the department for work with investors of the Committee for Investments and Strategic Projects of the Government of St. Petersburg.

In 2007-2010, he was the first deputy chairman of the Committee for Investments and Strategic Projects of the Government of St. Petersburg.

From 2010 to 2012, he was deputy director of the Department of Industry and Infrastructure of the Executive Office of the Government of the Russian Federation.

Since November 22, 2012, he was the head of the Federal Road Agency (Rosavtodor).

From September 27 to October 15, 2018, he was Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation.

At the head of the Kursk region

On October 11, 2018, after the resignation of Alexander Mikhailov, he was appointed acting governor of the Kursk region.

On April 4, 2019, non-partisan Roman Starovoit submitted documents to participate in the United Russia primaries to select a candidate from the party in the Kursk Oblast gubernatorial elections scheduled for September 8, 2019. During a secret ballot in the Kursk regional branch of United Russia, 229 out of 257 delegates voted for Starovoit. In June, United Russia nominated him as a candidate for governor. He quickly collected the signatures required for registration, which the regional election commission recognized as valid.

On July 19, he was registered as a candidate from the United Russia party, although he was not a member of the party.

In the elections held on September 8, 2019, Roman Starovoit received 81.07% of the votes with a turnout of 41.56% and was elected governor of the Kursk Oblast for 5 years. His term of office ended on May 14, 2024.

On November 9, 2020, he joined the United Russia party.

Since December 21, 2020, he was a member of the Presidium of the State Council of the Russian Federation.

In education

He was listed as an associate professor in the Department of Economic Security and Taxation at Southwestern State University.

Minister of Transport

On May 11, 2024, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin proposed the candidacy of Roman Starovoit for the post of Minister of Transport.

On May 14, the State Duma approved him for the post of Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation and on the same day Starovoit was appointed to this post by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On July 7, 2025, he was dismissed from the post of Minister of Transport of Russia.

Death

On the morning of July 7, 2025, after the decree on his resignation from the post of Minister of Transport was published, Roman Starovoit came to the Ministry of Transport, said goodbye to some of his former subordinates, and probably took the weapon from the safe. After that, he drove his personal Tesla to Malevich Park, located near the village of Razdory in the Odintsovo urban district, where he left the car in the parking lot. The body of Roman Starovoit was found at about 3 p.m. on the same day in the park. According to preliminary data, the cause of death, which occurred several hours earlier, was a shot from Starovoit's award Glock pistol, found next to the body. The body was identified by Starovoit's assistant, with whom, according to some reports, he had been living recently. The probable cause of suicide is considered to be an investigation into bribery and embezzlement during the construction of defensive structures in the Kursk region, in which Starovoit could have been involved during his time as governor of the region.

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Security services may have tried to conceal the death of former Minister Starovoit Former Transport Minister Roman Starovoit may have died more than a day ago, Forbes reported, citing an organization close to the investigation

Security services may have tried to conceal the death of former Minister Starovoyt Former Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt may have died more than a day ago, Forbes reported, citing a source close to the investigative bodies. This is indirectly confirmed by the words of the head of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov. If this information is true, it turns out that the Sunday press release about Starovoyt’s participation in an operational meeting on the ammonia leak on a tanker in the port of Ust-Luga was an information operation that was supposed to conceal the official’s death.
Details.

Presumably, Starovoy died on the night from Saturday to Sunday, Forbes reported.
The head of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov previously told RTVI that this happened “quite a long time ago.” If the information from Forbes is correct, the official was already dead when the Ministry of Transport reported on Sunday afternoon that Starovoit had held an operational meeting in connection with the ammonia leak on the Eco Wizard tanker in the port of Ust-Luga. "An operational meeting on this incident was held at the situation and information center of the Ministry of Transport, chaired by Transport Minister Roman Starovoit," the department said in a statement.
Starovoit's body was found on Saturday, a source in law enforcement confirmed to RBC. Context. According to reports on Telegram channels, the body of Starovoit, whom Vladimir Putin fired from the post of transport minister on Monday, was found with a gunshot wound in the Moscow region. The Investigative Committee confirmed that Starovoit's body was found in his personal car in the Odintsovo urban district.
Starovoit could have been detained and taken for questioning to one of the Investigative Committee's departments this evening, Kommersant reported. Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt was found dead in a Tesla Model X (T555MP77). The car was registered to Anzor Zubkayev, a Chechen official of the Ministry of Transport who had previously fired a combat pistol into the air at the Bristol Hotel. The owner of the car, the model, the kickbacks, the bushes — a crime picture in oil.
This is the first official of such a high level since the 1991 coup to commit suicide while on duty or immediately after resignation.
Starovoyt's body was identified by his assistant, the girl cannot hold back her tears. UPD: The assistant, Polina, who had the opportunity to identify the body of former Transport Minister and ex-governor Roman Starovoyt, was his lover.
On the same day, another official of the Ministry of Transport, Andrey Korneichuk, died. Heart.

Class rank
Actual State Councilor of the Russian Federation, 1st class
Awards
Medal "In Memory of the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg" (2003)
Order of Honor (2014)
Medal "For Impeccable Labor and Distinction", 2nd degree (2015)
Gold Medal "For Contribution to the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex of Russia" (2015)
Order of Alexander Nevsky (2017)
Medal "For Impeccable Labor and Distinction", 1st degree (2018)
Order of Friendship (2020)
Certificate of Honor of the President of the Russian Federation
Medal "For the Development of the Transport System of Crimea"
Medal "For the Commonwealth in the Name of Salvation"
Medal "For Assistance to the Russian National Guard"
Medal "For Strengthening the Military Commonwealth"
Medal "Lieutenant General Kovalev"
Medal "For Contribution to Strengthening the Defense of the Russian Federation"
Medal "To the Participant of the Special military operation"
Award weapon - 9-mm Makarov pistol from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (October 18, 2023).
Personal life
Has been divorced since 2022. Raised two daughters.

Participant in four Moscow International Marathons. Was fond of triathlon, on October 7, 2018, in 13 hours 33 minutes he completed the Iron Man supermarathon - 3800 m swimming, 180 km cycling and 42 km running.

International sanctions
Since July 2022, for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he has been included in the UK sanctions list "against Russian officials supporting Putin's puppet administrations in Ukraine."

On August 19, 2022, Roman Starovoit was included in Canada's sanctions list of "close associates of the regime who are accomplices of the Russian regime's aggression against Ukraine."

On December 15, 2022, he was added to the US sanctions list for "conscription of citizens to war in response to a recent Russian mobilization order."

On October 19, 2022, he was sanctioned by Ukraine as "the head of a government agency that supported/encouraged/publicly approved the Russian Federation's policy aimed at conducting military actions and genocide of the civilian population in Ukraine."

He was sanctioned by Australia and New Zealand for similar reasons

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The head of the board of directors of Lukoil, Ravil Maganov, fell from the window of the 6th floor of the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, located on Marshal Timoshenko Street.

The causes of the tragedy are being established.

More details: https://www.tatar-inform.ru/news/vice-prezident-lukoila-ravil-maganov-obnaruzen-mertvym-v-moskve-5878235

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In early February, the Corporation's CEO Igor Nosov died after a stroke at the age of 43.

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01/29/2022 The first among the five dead was Leonid Shulman, director of Gazprom Invest LLC. The circumstances of the death raised doubts in the operatives. 

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On 25.02.2022, employees found a dead man in a noose in an extension garage, with a note lying nearby. The deceased was identified as 61-year-old Alexander Tyulyakov, Deputy General Director of the Unified Settlement Center (ERSC) of Gazprom for corporate security. This division performs the functions of the treasury of the entire monopoly.

Before his appointment to the ERSC, Alexander Tyulyakov had worked since March 2014 as Deputy General Director for Corporate Security and HR Management at Gazprom Transgaz Saint Petersburg, a 100% subsidiary of Gazprom, which was engaged in the export and transportation of fuel to nine regions of Russia.

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14.04.2022 Former Vice President of Gazprombank Vladislav Avaev, his wife, and 13-year-old daughter were found dead in an apartment in western Moscow. According to preliminary data, Avaev killed his family and then committed suicide. A criminal case has been opened.

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04/19/2022 Former top manager of the Russian gas producing company NOVATEK Sergei Protosenya and his family were found dead in a rented villa in Spain.

The version is being considered that 55-year-old Protosenya could have killed his wife and daughter, and then hanged himself.

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08/04/2022, it became known about the death of businessman Yuri Voronov, who was closely associated with Gazprom structures. The first version of the investigation is suicide. Yuri Voronov's body was found in the pool in his own house in the Leningrad region. According to sources, Voronov (or someone else) shot himself in the head with a traumatic pistol and either drowned or died from the wound.

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Vice President of the Transneft company Andrei Badalov died on Friday morning after falling from the balcony in his house