A Polish television channel has confirmed the murder of artist Semyon Skrepetsky.
Russian artist Semyon Skrepetsky, known for criticizing the Kremlin and Ramzan Kadyrov, has been killed in the Polish city of Biała Podlaska, the Polish television channel wPolsce24 has confirmed. His murder was previously reported by the Belarusian opposition Telegram channel DzikMedia.
Details. According to wPolsce24, Skrepetsky was shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex. The channel reports that the killer approached the artist and fired several shots from close range. Medics were unable to save Skrepetsky.
▪️After the murder, police cordoned off city streets and guarded schools and kindergartens where the victim's children may have been, wPolsce24 reports.
▪️A suspect was detained near the Belarusian consulate. According to the channel, the suspects are Belarusian citizens. "The fact that the shooter fled directly to the diplomatic mission of Alexander Lukashenko's regime casts a dark shadow on the motives for the crime," the channel emphasizes.
▪️A spokesperson for the local prosecutor's office confirmed that a man had been shot dead in the city.
▪️Initially, media reported only that a Russian citizen had been shot. DzikMedia was the first to report that it was Skrepetsky (the channel published only his first name and the first letter of his last name). According to the same Telegram channel, a taxi driver from Belarus brought the killers to the crime scene. He was later threatened with a gun, became frightened, and attempted to flee to the Belarusian consulate.
▪️The last post on the Telegram channel was published at 9 a.m. Moscow time. "Important Stories" reports that his Telegram account has been deleted.
Who is Skrepetsky? He is a Russian artist, whose real name is Robert Kuzovkov. He was born in Altai and became known for his caricatures, including of Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny, Ramzan Kadyrov, and Alexander Lukashenko.
In 2021, he moved from Russia to Poland. He participated in protests in Europe. For example, on June 12 in Berlin, he picketed with an icon-style painting of Stalin and Putin. And in 2024, at a Russian opposition march in the German capital, he held a caricature of Navalny holding a sandwich.