Exiled Russian artist and vocal Putin critic dies in execution-style shooting
An exiled Russian artist and staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin has been shot dead in an execution-style killing in Poland.
Semyon Skrepetsky, 44, was repeatedly shot in a carpark in the eastern Polish city of Biala Podlaska, close to the border with Belarus, at 10am on Monday (local time).
He is believed to have been about 500m from the Belarusian consulate.
Two Belarusian nationals aged 33 and 37 were arrested, according to Marcin Kozak, the spokesman for the district prosecutor’s office in Lublin.
Kozak said an unidentified individual had “fired three shots from a handgun” at the dissident.
“As the man fell, the perpetrator approached him and fired two more shots at close range. An examination of the body revealed five entry wounds and two exit wounds – in the head and chest.”
When police arrived, they blocked off roads in the city and sent officers to guard schools and nurseries, including where the victim’s children could have been.
It is the latest in a series of suspected assassinations and attempted assassinations on Western territory by Moscow, including the 2018 attack on Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England.
Skrepetsky, whose real name was Robert Kuzovkov, was known for audacious protests against Putin that were highly critical of the Ukraine war. He also took part in protests against the Belarusian regime.
He moved to Poland in 2021, citing the risk of political persecution, according to the independent Russian outlet iStories. He had also criticised the Ukrainian Government on social media and penned insults against Ukrainians, the outlet said.
Skrepetsky’s satirical cartoons derided not only Putin but Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader; Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator; and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, a conservative bishop.
The dissident had also caricatured Russian opposition figures including Alexei Navalny, his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, and Maxim Katz, a popular anti-government YouTuber.
Just days before his murder, on June 12, Skrepetsky protested outside the Russian embassy in Berlin, carrying a painting which depicted Putin as baby Jesus, nuzzling against Joseph Stalin portrayed as the Virgin Mary.
He proceeded to pull a Russian flag out of his trousers and throw it into a bin.
In a post on Telegram just an hour before he was killed, he joked that the performance had been “very popular with Russian patriots” and said he had been threatened with rape. His channel has since been deleted, according to Russian media.
His Instagram channel cannot be accessed but his Facebook page is still active,
Andrzej Fojolek, a police spokesman, told Polish broadcaster TVN: “We don’t yet know the perpetrator’s motives”.
Telegram channels claimed, citing witnesses, that a suspect had fled the scene and attempted to jump over the fence of the diplomatic mission of Belarus, presumably in an effort to seek shelter.
Kremlin critics in Europe have sounded the alarm about increased efforts to brutalise and silence them.
In 2024, Maxim Kuzminov, a Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine, was shot dead in Spain. Last year, four men were charged in France over a plot to attack Vladimir Osechkin, who leads a human rights advocacy group focused on Russian atrocities.
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