BREAKING NEWS Russian minister 'shoots himself dead' hours after being sacked by Putin
Former transport minister Roman Starovoit was reportedly found dead at his home, having apparently taken his own life with his gun.
A firearm was found near Starovoit's body at his home in the village of Myakinino, in the Odintsovo district of Moscow region.
No reason was given for Starovoit's dismissal, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refusing to comment on it.
Putin named Starovoyt's deputy, Andrey Nikitin, as acting transport minister. Nikitkin was the governor of Russia 's Novgorod region until February.
The gun Starovoit reportedly used to shoot himself was awarded to him by the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2023.
More to follow.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Russia nuclear submarine base damaged after earthquake
A nuclear submarine base in Russia's remote far east region was damaged last week after one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the area in decades, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing satellite images. Photos captured by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite imaging firm, show damage to a floating pier at the Rybachiy submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula. One section of the pier appears to have broken away from its anchor point. Aside from the damaged pier, the satellite imagery does not show any other major destruction. Reuters could not independently verify the report. Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A powerful magnitude-8.8 earthquake off Russia's far eastern Kamchatka coast on Wednesday triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of the most active volcano on the peninsula. The earthquake was one of the most powerful ever recorded but resulted in relatively small amounts of damage thanks to a global and highly successful disaster response effort. The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged the local fishing plant, officials said. Russian state television footage showed buildings and debris swept into the sea. The surge of water reached as far as the town's second world war monument about 400 meters from the shoreline. The initial quake also caused limited damage and only light injuries, despite being the strongest since 2011, when 15,000 people were killed in Japan. The Rybachiy nuclear submarine base – a strategic hub for Russia's Pacific fleet – serves as a facility for the maintenance, deployment and operations of the country's nuclear-powered submarines in the Pacific region.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Call for Nato action after Russian drone intrudes on Lithuania
Lithuania has called for Nato help to boost its air defences after Russian military drones repeatedly violated its airspace. 'Last Monday, a Russian military drone violated Lithuanian airspace,' said Kęstutis Budrys, the foreign minister in Vilnius. 'This marks the second such incident in less than a month. Similar airspace violations have also been reported recently by other allies.' Budrys added that he and the defence minister, Dovilė Šakalienė, had asked the Nato secretary general for 'immediate measures to enhance air defence capabilities in Lithuania and accelerate the full implementation of the rotational air defence model. Air defence is vital to allied security. Securing Nato's eastern flank must remain a top priority for the alliance.' Amid the nuclear row between Donald Trump and Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin has moved to play down the latter's role in Russian decision-making, the Institute for the Study of War has said. The thinktank said Medvedev was subsequently being portrayed as having a 'different assessment' from Putin on nuclear issues. An ISW assessment said: 'The Kremlin regularly uses Medvedev to introduce nuclear threats into the Russian and international information spaces.' Medvedev, a high-ranked official who was once prime minister of Russia, as well as a proxy for Putin in the presidency, accused Trump of taking 'a step towards war' by tightening an ultimatum for Russia to seek peace. Trump in response said he had moved two nuclear submarines into position 'just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that'. The ISW further assessed that 'Kremlin officials utilised three main framings to respond to Trump's decision to redeploy the submarines: posing Trump's decision to redeploy the submarines as 'emotional,' discounting the threat that this decision poses to Russia, and posturing Russia as a more responsible international actor than the United States … These official Russian responses ignore the Kremlin's history of frequently using nuclear saber-rattling to push the west to make decisions that benefit Russia. On the battlefield, the ISW said that Ukrainian forces had recently advanced near Pokrovsk, which Russian forces have been trying to capture since at least July 2024. Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Siversk, Toretsk, and Velykomykhailivka, the institute said. Russian claimed on Tuesday to have captured the village of Sichneve in east-central Dnipropetrovsk region. The Reuters news agency, which carried the claim, said it could not independently confirm it. Donald Trump has said he will make a decision on whether to sanction countries that purchase Russian oil after a meeting with Russian officials scheduled for Wednesday. That is when Steve Witkoff – real estate promoter, friend of Trump and officially his Russia envoy – is due to meet with Russian leadership in Moscow. A Bloomberg report suggested that Putin might agree to a ceasefire in terms of airstrike but not on the ground. Also on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that Trump's administration is considering additional sanctions on Russia's 'shadow fleet' of oil tankers that illicitly move Russian oil. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, said on Tuesday he'd had a 'productive' conversation with Trump about ending the war, sanctions on Russia and the finalisation of a US-Ukraine drone deal. Ukraine, he said, had long supported US proposals for an immediate ceasefire and had proposed a number of formats to implement a halt to the fighting. 'We have spoken with and proposed to Russia quiet in the skies, no missile and drone attacks and specifically no attacks on civilian infrastructure or on the energy sector. All of this has been violated by the Russians and in a very cynical fashion.' The $300m superyacht of a sanctioned Russian billionaire is being auctioned off. The 348-foot (106-metre) Amadea was seized in Fiji in April 2022 from its former owner, Suleiman Kerimov, and is berthed in San Diego California. The auction is being held by National Maritime Services, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, company. Sealed bids are being accepted until 10 September subject to a $10m deposit. The US Congress has passed legislation allowing the sale of seized Russian assets to fund humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
This man survived Hiroshima - and he has a stark warning for us all
Why you can trust Sky News Toshiyuki Mimaki is exhausted when we meet him. The 83-year-old sinks into his chair, closes his eyes, and asks us to keep it brief. But then he starts talking, and his age seems to melt away with the power of his stories. He is a survivor of Hiroshima's atomic bomb, a lifelong advocate for nuclear disarmament and, as of last year, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But now, on the 80th anniversary of the bombing, he comes with more than just memories - he has a message, and it is stark. "Right now is the most dangerous era," he says. "Russia might use it [a nuclear weapon], North Korea might use it, China might use it. "And President Trump - he's just a huge mess. "We've been appealing and appealing, for a world without war or nuclear weapons - but they're not listening." 2:23 'I didn't hear a sound' Mr Mimaki was three years old when the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. It was the first time a nuclear weapon had been used in war, and it's remembered as one of the most horrific events in the history of conflict. It's estimated to have killed over 70,000 people on the spot, one in every five residents, unleashing a ground heat of around 4,000C, melting everything in its path and flattening two thirds of the city. Horrifying stories trickled out slowly, of blackened corpses and skin hanging off the victims like rags. "What I remember is that day I was playing outside and there was a flash," Mr Mimaki recalls. "We were 17km away from the hypocentre. I didn't hear a bang, I didn't hear a sound, but I thought it was lightening. "Then it was afternoon and people started coming out in droves. Some with their hair all in mess, clothes ragged, some wearing shoes, some not wearing shoes, and asking for water." 'The city was no longer there' For four days, his father did not return home from work in the city centre. He describes with emotion the journey taken by his mother, with him and his younger bother in tow, to try to find him. There was only so far in they could travel, the destruction was simply too great. "My father came home on the fourth day," he says. "He was in the basement [at his place of work]. He was changing into his work clothes. That's how he survived. "When he came up to ground level, the city of Hiroshima was no longer there." 'People are still suffering' Three days later, the US would drop another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, bringing about an unconditional Japanese surrender and the end of the Second World War. By the end of 1945, the death toll from both cities would have risen to an estimated 210,000 and to this day it is not known exactly how many lost their lives in the following years to cancers and other side effects. "It's still happening, even now. People are still suffering from radiation, they are in the hospital," Mr Mimaki says. "It's very easy to get cancer, I might even get cancer, that's what I'm worried about now." Tragically, many caught up in the bomb lived with the stigma for most of their lives. Misunderstandings about the impact of radiation meant they were often shunned and rejected for jobs or as a partner in marriage. Many therefore tried to hide their status as Hibakusha (a person affected by the atomic bombs) and now, in older age, are finding it hard to claim the financial support they are entitled to. And then there is the enormous psychological scars, the PTSD and the lifelong mental health problems. Many Hibakusha chose to never talk about what they saw that day and live with the guilt that they survived. For Mr Mimaki, it's there when he recounts a story of how he and another young girl about his age became sick with what he now believes was radiation poisoning. "She died, and I survived," he says with a heavy sigh and strain in his eyes. He has subsequently dedicated his life to advocacy, and is co-chair of a group of atomic bomb survivors called Nihon Hidankyo. Its members were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024. 'Why do humans like war so much?' But he doesn't dwell much on any pride he might feel. He knows it's not long until the bomb fades from living memory, and he deeply fears what that might mean in a world that looks more turbulent now than it has in decades. Indeed, despite advocacy like his, there are still around 12,000 nuclear warheads in the world in the hands of nine countries. "In the future, you never know when they might use it. Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Gaza, Israel-Iran - there is always a war going on somewhere," he says. "Why do these animals called humans like war so much? "We keep saying it, we keep telling them, but it's not getting through, for 80 years no-one has listened.
