Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Transport Minister Roman Starovoit in the wake of a crippling air travel collapse that left tens of thousands of passengers stranded across the country. Starovoit, who previously served as governor of the Kursk Region, held the ministerial role for just over a year.
The move comes after a staggering 419 days in office, during which Starovoit oversaw Russia’s transport infrastructure at a time of mounting challenges. His dismissal, though formally unexplained in the presidential decree, follows widespread disruptions at Russian airports caused by heightened drone attack alerts earlier this month.
Andrei Nikitin, the former governor of Novgorod Region, has been appointed acting Minister of Transport. Putin met with Nikitin at the Kremlin shortly after the decree was signed.
Thousands Stranded as Flights Grounded Nationwide
On July 5 and 6, Russia’s air travel network suffered one of its worst modern disruptions. Triggered by drone threat alerts, the gridlock began at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where 241 flights were delayed and 158 canceled in just two days. In Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, 36 flights were delayed and 87 scrapped. Smaller airports, including those in Nizhny Novgorod, Sochi, Kazan, Tomsk, and Krasnoyarsk, were also heavily affected.
More than 7,000 passengers are still awaiting departure in Saint Petersburg. Airport lounges have become makeshift dormitories, with travelers sleeping on the floor, unable to reclaim their luggage due to system overloads.
According to Rosaviatsiya, Russia’s aviation authority, nearly 2,000 flights were delayed and 485 canceled during the two-day chaos. On July 7, another 8 flights were canceled in Pulkovo alone, with 104 still delayed.
Political Undercurrents and Legal Clouds
Although the Kremlin has not officially linked Starovoit’s firing to the airport crisis, the timing has raised eyebrows. Reports suggest that personnel changes had been planned as early as June, before the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, when Nikitin resigned from his gubernatorial post—allegedly in preparation for a federal role.
Another factor may have added pressure: the arrest of Alexei Smirnov, Starovoit’s successor as governor of Kursk Region. Smirnov is currently under investigation for allegedly embezzling one billion rubles in state funds.
The charges relate to corruption in a government contract to build two facilities for the Federal Security Service’s border division. Funds were allegedly misappropriated through the Kursk Region Development Corporation. On June 6, a Moscow court extended Smirnov’s pre-trial detention.
Starovoit himself has not been implicated, but the legal drama unfolding in his former regional stronghold has added to the political turbulence surrounding his dismissal.
