Polish police are investigating the murder of Russian artist Robert Kuzovkov, who used the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, a vocal Kremlin critic, the BBC reports.
Polish prosecutors said Kuzovkov was shot dead on the morning of June 16 in Biała Podlaska, about 40 kilometers from the Polish-Belarusian border. The 44-year-old artist was shot five times in the head, chest and back in a car park about 600 meters from the Belarusian consulate.
Kuzovkov was known for his political caricatures, and he drew satirical pictures of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Police have detained two Belarusian citizens near the Belarusian consulate in Biała Podlaska, and their role in the incident is being investigated.
Kuzovkov left Russia in 2021, fearing prosecution, and was granted asylum in Biała Podlaska.
Marcin Kozak, a representative of the regional prosecutor’s office, said that the artist was approached by an unidentified shooter who fired two shots at him. After the victim fell, the attacker approached him, fired three more times and then left the scene. Kuzovkov died instantly from his injuries. Kozak indicated that five shell casings and one nine-millimeter Luger bullet were found at the scene of the attack.
A Belarusian artist, Vladislav Bohan, an acquaintance of Kuzovkov, said he heard about the attack on Polish radio and was immediately concerned because he knew Kuzovkov lived there, and it was a very small town.
Kozak said the victim was involved in public artistic activities and also used the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, under which he criticized current Russian politics.
The slain artist’s caricatures showed Putin in the arms of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin,
Lukashenko as Adolf Hitler with a bucket of potatoes in his hands, and Kadyrov with his son with pig snouts. Kuzovkov also mocked Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the people of Ukraine. His home address was freely available on the Internet, and Kuzovkov published his works on the Telegram messaging app and on his YouTube account. Kuzovkov’s wife and five children also live in Poland.
A video released the day before Kuzovkov’s death shows him protesting outside the Russian embassy in Berlin. The artist was holding a painting depicting Putin and had a Russian flag tied to his trousers, which was dragging on the ground.
Kuzovkov’s friend Bulat Subhankulov told the BBC that he had been constantly reminding him that Kuzovkov would come one day and that he had to be ready and stay alert. Subhankulov believes that Kuzovkov forgot and became careless: “I kept telling him that it could end badly… Eventually I realised there was no point. That’s just the kind of guy he was: completely reckless and stubborn.”
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