Russian Minister of Transport Roman Starovoy attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, in a Jan. 30, 2025 file photo. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS

Russia's Minister of Transport reportedly killed himself just hours after being fired by President Vladimir Putin, according to the country's state-run news agency, which cited the national Investigative Committee. A second senior Transport Ministry official reportedly died soon after, for reasons which remain unclear.

Roman Starovoy fatally shot himself Monday in his car in Odintsovo, a city west of Moscow, according to a statement from the committee that was reported by Russia's TASS news agency.

"The circumstances of the incident are being established," TASS cited the Investigative Committee as saying. "The main hypothesis is suicide."

Forbes Russia reported that Starovoy, 53, died "presumably overnight between Saturday and Sunday," citing an anonymous source close to state investigators. It was not possible to explain the discrepancy between the times of death reported by Forbes and the official Russian media.

Putin had dismissed Starovoy just hours earlier, according to a decree published by the Kremlin. No official reason was given, but ongoing Ukranian drone attacks on Russia caused chaos for air traffic in the country over the weekend, prompting the cancellation of hundreds of flights and stranding passengers.

Russia's Ministry of Defense claimed to have intercepted at least 120 drones over 10 different regions of the country between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Officials in Ukraine, meanwhile, said Monday that at least 11 civilians were killed and more than 80 others injured, including seven children, in Russian drone attacks. Russia has intensified its missile and drone strikes, including many that hit civilian areas, in recent days.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that over the past week alone, Russia had launched about 1,270 drones, 39 missiles and nearly 1,000 glide bombs at Ukraine.

Starovoy became Russia's Transport Minister in 2024, before which he was the governor of the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.

Another official reportedly "stood up sharply… and fell dead"
Soon after Starovoy's death was reported by Russian media, a lower-ranking official whose job fell within the remit of the Transport Ministry, 42-year-old Andrei Korneichuk, was said to have died suddenly during a meeting.

At his office in eastern Moscow, Korneichuk, who was the deputy head of the Federal Road Agency's Land Fund Department, "stood up sharply during a meeting and fell dead," according to the SHOT news outlet, which is said to be close to the military.

"The medics could not help him," SHOT added. The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta said at least two other Russian government-linked news outlets had reported the same basic details.

The preliminary cause of death was determined to be cardiac arrest, according to the media outlets cited by the Gazeta.

The two deaths come just days after that of the vice-president of Russian state oil company Transneft.

The body of Andrei Badalov, 62, was found "beneath the window of a house" in western Moscow on Friday, TASS cited law enforcement officials as saying. The state news agency said he had written a farewell message to his wife.

The cases are just the latest in a string of high-profile, powerful Russians dying suddenly, often in apparent falls from windows or other incidents.

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