Exiled Russian caricaturist shot dead in eastern Poland; Tusk calls it a political murder

The killing

Robert Kuzovkov, who worked under the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was shot dead on Monday morning in the eastern Polish town of Biała Podlaska, roughly 40 kilometres from the Belarusian border. The 44-year-old artist was approached by an unidentified gunman in a car park and shot twice. When he collapsed, the attacker stepped closer and fired three more rounds at point-blank range, according to Marcin Kozak, spokesperson for the Lublin district prosecutor's office. Five shell casings and a Geco 9mm Luger bullet were recovered at the scene. An autopsy was scheduled for 17 June.

“When the victim fell to the ground, the perpetrator approached, fired three more shots and then quickly fled the scene. Robert K died at the scene.”

The investigation

Polish authorities detained two Belarusian citizens, aged 33 and 37, near the Belarusian consulate in Biała Podlaska. The consulate sits roughly 600 metres from the crime scene. Prime Minister Donald Tusk later confirmed the men had been released because police found no evidence of their direct involvement in the murder. The actual shooter remains at large. Tusk described the case as difficult, noting that identifying a contract killer is not straightforward. The Polish government had previously offered protection to the artist, which he declined, according to government spokesman Adam Szłapka. The victim's family was moved to a secure location immediately after the attack.

“Alles deutet darauf hin, dass es sich um einen politischen Mord handelt.”

The artist and his work

Skrepetsky fled Russia in 2021 fearing criminal prosecution over his art and had lived in Biała Podlaska, a town of fewer than 60,000 residents, for five years. His satirical paintings targeted Vladimir Putin, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. One of his best-known works reimagined Orthodox iconography with Joseph Stalin cradling an infant Putin. Other pieces depicted Lukashenko as Adolf Hitler holding a bucket of potatoes and showed Kadyrov and his son Adam with pig snouts. His address in Poland was publicly available online, and his work circulated on Telegram and YouTube.

The political dimension

Bartosz Grodecki, head of Poland's National Security Office, wrote on X that if the political nature of the crime is confirmed, it would represent a new escalation of Russian operations beyond its borders. Tusk went further, stating that if Russia commissioned the killing, it constitutes state terrorism and carries international dimensions. The killing comes weeks after Skrepetsky joined protests against the reopening of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Three days before his death, he demonstrated outside the Russian embassy in Berlin carrying a portrait of Stalin holding Putin as a child. On 12 June, he pulled a Russian flag from his pocket and threw it into a bin outside the Russian embassy.

“If the political nature of this crime is confirmed, we will be facing a new manifestation of the escalation of actions conducted by Russia beyond its borders.”

The dissident context

Skrepetsky's name appeared in a database of "enemies of Ukraine," and after news of his death broke, the word "liquidated" was added to his profile, according to the Moscow Times. He also mocked Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who died in a penal colony in 2024, and ridiculed ordinary Ukrainians. Belarusian artist Vladislav Bokhan, an acquaintance, said he heard of the shooting on Polish radio and immediately feared it was Skrepetsky's town. The Kremlin has consistently denied involvement in killings of critics abroad, and some past accusations have proven false, including a hammer-and-tear-gas attack on a Navalny aide that later emerged as an internal feud among dissidents.