...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...on Monday announced the appointment of Andrey Sergeyevich Nikitin as the country's acting transport minister, after removing Roman Starovoyt from the post.
''Andrey Sergeyevich (Nikitin), I would like to invite you to take another step forward on your career ladder and work as the acting Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation,'' Putin said during a meeting with Nikitin, according to a video published by the Kremlin.
Putin expressed his intention to submit Nikitin's candidacy to the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, after which he would sign the decree on the final appointment if politicians support it.
''I hope that you will apply all your efforts, knowledge, skills, and organizational abilities to solve those tasks, the most important tasks that are in this area,'' he added.
The move came after Putin signed an executive order on the dismissal of Starovoyt, who was appointed to the post just a year ago in May 2024. No reason was provided for his removal.
In a press briefing Kremlin front man Dmitry Peskov said that Starovoyt's dismissal is not due to a "loss of trust."
Peskov further said that Putin believes Nikitin's "working qualities and work experience" currently best serve the needs of the ministry.
Nikitin had been serving as the deputy transport minister since February, and was previously the governor of Russia's northwestern Novgorod region.
Says Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] The Russian Minister of Transport and former Governor of Kursk Oblast, Roman Starovoit, who was fired today (Putin's decree was published this morning), shot himself today at his dacha in Odintsovo.
Apparently, a criminal case became inevitable and he decided to end it this way. The investigation into theft during the construction of fortifications in Kursk Oblast has been ongoing for a long time. Khinshtein's predecessor is involved in this case.
But part of the investigation touches upon the period when Starovoit was still governor and at the beginning of the year there were many publications on the topic of whether Starovoit could not have known about the fraudulent schemes associated with fake contractors, through whom huge amounts of money allocated for the construction of field fortifications leaked out.
One way or another, the investigation will still continue and then it will be clear from the facts - what exactly prompted Starovoit to commit suicide.
The media reports that former Governor of Kursk Oblast Smirnov, who is under investigation, testified against Starovoit.
Starovoit was at the ministry this morning, said goodbye to everyone, then went home and shot himself in his car in a parking lot in Odintsovo.