Andrey Nikitin served as deputy transport minister since February MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Andrey Nikitin as acting transport minister. He is replacing Roman Starovoit who was relieved of the post on Monday morning. Most recently, Nikitin served as deputy transport minister since February. Before that, he had been Novgorod Region governor since 2017. Ahead of the announcement, Putin held a meeting with Nikitin in the Kremlin. "I would like to offer you