Starovoit’s bloody kickbacks: how former governor Smirnov turned in the minister who later committed suicide in exchange for a deal with the investigation
During a court hearing, former governor of the Kursk region, Smirnov, testified about “kickbacks” totaling tens of millions of rubles, which were received by the former regional head and Minister of Transport, Roman Starovoit.
Smirnov explained that he became acquainted with the contractors for the construction of fortification structures, Dedov and Lukin, in the early 2000s, and with Shubin in the late 1990s.
Smirnov stated that he received large “kickbacks” from them, from which he transferred about 100 million rubles to Starovoit and kept roughly 30 million rubles for himself.
The money was received from the construction of fortification structures and projects between 2022 and 2024.
Smirnov gave the same testimony during the investigation when Starovoit was still alive.
All of this coincides with the results of the investigation published in February regarding the circumstances of Starovoit’s suicide. To quote: “When Starovoit received the coveted ministerial post in May, he entered the very heart of the clan battles close to Putin.”
Already in February 2025, his deputy was appointed as Andrey Nikitin — a 100% loyal associate of Mikhail Kovalchuk, one of Putin’s closest allies. And no one hid the fact that Nikitin had been brought into the Ministry of Transport with an eye on the ministerial seat.
Already in April 2025, Smirnov (a friend of Starovoit, who had succeeded him as governor) was detained in connection with embezzlement during the construction of fortification structures. Starovoit clearly understood that the whole case was aimed directly at him. Initially, Smirnov denied any wrongdoing, but in June 2025 he filed a motion for a pre-trial agreement (officially concluded on August 5). It was clear that Smirnov’s testimony was directed specifically against Starovoit. According to a source, Starovoit constantly turned to his supervisors for help, but they reassured him that the situation was under control and that he was “in good standing” with Putin, who would trust him.
When he resigned, Starovoit apparently interpreted it as a sign that he had lost Putin’s trust, and moreover, that the next step would be his arrest. He did not wait for it, especially since he truly considered himself uninvolved in the embezzlement case (if any had even occurred) related to the construction of fortification structures.
By the way, the vacated ministerial seat was taken precisely by Nikitin.
