0554GMT//Transport minister shoots himself; Golos shuts; Fee for airport smoking room is scrapped
EX-MINISTER SHOOTS HIMSELF: Roman Starovoit, Russia's former transport minister, was reported dead by Russian media a few hours after he was sacked by Vladimir Putin. Starovoit was governor of the Kursk region from 2018 until 2024, when he was promoted to transport minister. Sources in Russian media said that he had been accused of stealing millions of dollars when he was the Kursk governor from projects to build defences along Russia's border with Ukraine. Apparently, he used a pistol gifted to him to shoot himself in the head in his car, a Tesla. (COMMENT: There's not too much to say about this one. It's shocking but in Russia corruption, politics and death collide. Perhaps most shocking is how the Kremlin tried to spin this story. It appears that Starovoit shot himself the night before he was "fired" from his job. Russian media played down this story, giving preference to Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine.)
CORRUPTION: Police in Russia arrested Viktor Strigunov, the deputy head of Russia's National Guard, for corruption for taking bribes from businessmen in exchange for winning contracts. (COMMENT: Again, the point needs to be made that corruption permeates Russian business, politics and the military. It's one of the reasons that the Russian military has performed so poorly in Ukraine and wouldn't stand a chance against Nato.)
MORE CORRUPTION: Khalil Arslanov, the former deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, was sent to prison for 17 years on Monday for taking bribes. (COMMENT: 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️)
NEW TRANSPORT MINISTER: Putin promoted Andrey Nikitin to be Russia's transport minister. He had previously been the deputy transport minister. (COMMENT: Nikitin was only appointed deputy transport minister in February. He had previously been the governor of the northwestern Novgorod region for seven years. As governor, he boasted that he had doubled the number of women who decided against having an abortion after accidentally becoming pregnant. Pushing up Russia's birth rate is a cornerstone policy for Putin.)
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS: The Kremlin has cut state support for small and medium-sized businesses because of its economic problems and to boost funds for its war in Ukraine, Russia's Higher School of Economics Development Centre reported. It said that funding for SMEs was down 43% this year compared to 2024. (COMMENT: More negative economic data.)
INTEREST RATES: Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrial business lobby group, said that he expected the Central Bank to cut interest rates by 2 percentage points at its next meeting later this month. (COMMENT: Shokhin and other business leaders have been pressuring the Russian Central Bank to cut interest rates, currently at 20%. This does seem likely, although a 200 basis point cut may be too much, as inflation has eased and business is struggling.)
DEMOCRACY, OR LACK OF IT: Golos, Russia's only independent vote monitoring unit, officially closed after 25 years. It said that it was now too dangerous for it to operate. In May, the Golos chairman Grigory Melkonyants was sent to prison for five years for working for an "undesirable organisation". (COMMENT: This is another big blow to Russian civic society. Golos had been a reliable and brave voice on Russian democracy, or lack of it.)
SMOKING IN AIRPORTS: Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg cancelled a fee to use its smoking room less than a fortnight after it was introduced. It was the only one in Russia, charging 500 roubles ($6.35) to enter the smoking room. The airport said that it had scrapped the fee after "numerous complaints". (COMMENT: This is clearly a win for smokers. It's a story that The Memo has tracked.)
NEWS MATRIX:
There's a corruption theme to today's News Matrix. It poisons Russia at every level and has now triggered the death of a minister. Russia seems unable or unwilling to root it out.