The Russian artist Robert Kuzovkov, whose work has been highly critical of Vladimir Putin, has been killed in Poland.
The murder has the signs of an assassination, with two Belarusian nationals detained, though not yet charged. A total of five shots, including one to the head, were fired at Kuzovkov – known by his artistic pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky – in the eastern town of Biała Podlaska.
The incident happened in the parking lot of an apartment building. One of the suspects was arrested close to the Belarusian Consulate in Biała Podlaska.
Skrepetsky, a performer and painter, was known for his satirical portraits of Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Living in Poland since 2021, the artist had just returned home from Berlin, where he staged a performance protest outside the Russian embassy holding a painting in which Josef Stalin cuddles a babylike Putin.
After the performance, hours before his death, Skrepetsky posted screenshots on his personal Telegram channel of the threats he had received from people he termed ‘bekis’, a derogatory terms for Russians used in Ukraine.
Skrepetsky has also criticised Russian opposition figures, as well as Ukrainian authorities and was listed on the controversial Myrotvorets database, an NGO-run unofficial website which designates Ukraine’s ‘enemies’. After his death his entry was updated with the Ukrainian word for ‘liquidated’.
