Robert Kuzovkov, known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was shot and killed at close range near his home in the eastern Polish city of Biala Podlaska Monday, prosecutors said Tuesday.
A man identified by Polish media as Robert Kuzovkov and by prosecutors as Robert K., in accordance with Polish privacy law, who they said was an artist who used the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, poses for a photo with one of his paintings near the Russian Embassy in Berlin, Germany, on Friday, June 12, 2026, four days before Polish authorities said he was shot and killed in Biala Podlaska, Poland.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the shooting death of a Russian dissident artist on Polish soil bears the hallmarks of a political assassination and possible Russian “state terrorism. ” Russian exile Robert Kuzovkov, known as Semyon Skrepetsky, mocked Vladimir Putin in his art, declined Polish security and was shot multiple times by an unknown attacker near his home.
The killing deepens fears about a widening Russian campaign against critics abroad, following alleged plots and attacks in Germany, France, Lithuania, Poland and the 2024 murder of a defected pilot in Spain. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk Wednesday said the killing of a Russian artist who was critical of President Vladimir Putin has the hallmarks of a political assassination.
Robert Kuzovkov, known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was shot and killed at close range near his home in the eastern Polish city of Biala Podlaska on Monday, prosecutors said Tuesday.
“Everything points to this being a political murder,” Tusk said at a news briefing in Warsaw. “But we must wait for evidence or more concrete indications. Because if that was the case — if it was ordered by Russia — then it is an extremely serious matter internationally. It would constitute state terrorism.
”Polish investigators initially detained two Belarusian citizens but Tusk said Tuesday that they had been released because authorities had no evidence that they were directly involved in the killing.
“The case is difficult. If there’s a hired killer involved, it’s unfortunately not easy to identify such a person,” Tusk said, adding that Skrepetsky had been offered protection by Polish authorities but he had refused it. Through his art, Skrepetsky “expressed criticism of the current policies of the Russian authorities,” Polish prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday. He painted unflattering portraits of Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and other high-ranking Russian officials.
One depicts Putin being cradled in the arms of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. On Sunday, he posted a video on his YouTube channel showing him in Berlin putting a Russian flag in a trash can on June 12, the holiday marking Russia’s sovereignty. Prosecutors said the artist was approached near his home around 9:45 a.m. Monday by an unidentified man who fired two shots at him, then shot him three more times at close range before fleeing.
Prosecutors said the victim died at the scene of gunshot wounds to the head, chest and back. Since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been accused of trying to assassinate its opponents abroad, including targeting exiled activists in France and Lithuania. Officials in Germany have also broken up plots targeting the head of a German weapons supplier to Ukraine and a Ukrainian military official.
Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in what they said was a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain, with Russian operatives as the prime suspects. A man who set fire to homes linked to Keir Starmer is in jail. His Russian-speaking handler slipped away, authorities sayRebuilding L.A.
: How One Altadena Neighborhood Builds Back, Piece By Piece It turns out you can burn down a neighborhood and not destroy a community. We’ve seen evidence of this all across L.A. and so we will head back to one neighborhood that’s a good example of that bond: West Poppyfields Drive in Altadena. Today we discuss one of the pivotal events of the 1960s: the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
Though the gunman was caught at the scene, confessed at trial, and even bragged about the shooting, his motives have largely been forgotten. Modern LA earned its first smoggy nickname 450 years ago, as the “bay of smokes.
” At the La Brea tar pits, we take a short walk through a long history with curator Regan Dunn, who explains how and why the first Angelenos would have set fires that filled the broad bowl of LA and foretold the curse of smog.
Please follow us on Google to support us United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Russian artist and Putin critic shot dead in apparent targeted killing in PolandSemyon Skrepetsky, a Russian cartoonist known for satirical depictions of Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin-linked figures, recently took part in protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin.
Read more »
Killing of Russian artist in Poland has hallmarks of political assassination, prime minister saysPolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the killing of a Russian artist critical of President Vladimir Putin looks like a political assassination.
Read more »
Killing of Russian artist in Poland has hallmarks of political assassination, prime minister saysPolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the killing of a Russian artist critical of President Vladimir Putin looks like a political assassination.
Read more »
Killing of Russian artist in Poland has hallmarks of political assassination, prime minister saysPolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the killing of a Russian artist critical of President Vladimir Putin looks like a political assassination.
Read more »