{"id":643090,"date":"2026-06-17T07:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T07:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/643090\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T07:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T07:21:13","slug":"russian-artist-and-putin-critic-semyon-skrepetsky-shot-dead-in-poland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/643090\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian artist and Putin critic Semyon Skrepetsky shot dead in Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p>A Russian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/artist\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">artist<\/a> who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/eu-funding-putin-war-machine-russia-ukraine-war-b2994788.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">openly mocked president <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/vladimir-putin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vladimir Putin<\/a> has been shot dead in Poland. <\/p>\n<p>The 44-year-old exiled critic Robert Kuzovkov, also known as Semyon Skrepetsky, was killed in the city of Biala Podlaska, around 25 miles <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/belarus-ukraine-russia-war-sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya-kyiv-b2983473.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">from the Belarusian border<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/belarus-ukraine-russia-war-sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya-kyiv-b2983473.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">, <\/a>on Monday morning. <\/p>\n<p>Authorities said he was shot five times, including to his head, chest and back, in a car park near the Belarusian consulate. <\/p>\n<p>Polish prosecutors said he was approached by a lone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/gunman\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gunman<\/a> and killed at close range. The gunman is said to have shot the artist twice before Kuzovkov fell to the ground, with three more shots as he lay on the ground. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen 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,\u201d Marcin Kozak, a spokesperson for the district prosecutor\u2019s office in Lublin, said on Tuesday. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Poland_Russia_Killing_59864.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Robert Kuzovkov, 44, was killed in a shooting in Poland\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>Robert Kuzovkov, 44, was killed in a shooting in Poland (SOTA)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe victim engaged in public artistic activities and used, among other things, the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, under which he expressed criticism of the current policies of the Russian Federation authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two Belarusian citizens, a 33-year-old and 37-year-old, have been detained in connection with the case, but their role in the incident is still being investigated, according to Kozak. <\/p>\n<p>Five shell casings were discovered at the scene of the crime, including one Geco 9mm Luger bullet. An official autopsy has been scheduled to take place on Wednesday. <\/p>\n<p>Belarus and Russia are close allies and have remained so throughout Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n<p>Arriving in Poland in 2021, Kuzovkov was known for his provocative political caricatures, including of Putin, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/506292831_18034150040656852_4650201342028148174_n.jpeg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The Russian artist was known for making provocative caricatures of world leaders, especially Putin\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>The Russian artist was known for making provocative caricatures of world leaders, especially Putin (Facebook\/Semyon Skrepetsky)<\/p>\n<p>One of his final protests in the days before his death included a demonstration outside the Russian embassy on 12 June in which he pulled the flag of Russia out from a back pocket and threw it in the bin. <\/p>\n<p>In the video, he is seen wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon of Putin sitting on top of a pile of skulls, with the words \u201cRussian culture\u201d written above. He then went on to carry a portrait of Joseph Stalin holding Putin as a child and claimed he had received rape threats in the days before his killing. <\/p>\n<p>Other images show naked politicians in varying poses with objects protruding from various orifices. <\/p>\n<p>The news comes as world leaders gathered at the G7 summit in the French Alps on Tuesday, with the war between Russia and Ukraine a central fixture of discussions. President Donald Trump said that he had a \u201cvery good\u201d discussion with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/ukraine-russia-war-live-trump-putin-zelensky-ceasefire-b2996300.html\" title=\"Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump tells Putin to \u2018make a deal\u2019 to end war as US president meets with Zelensky at G7 summit\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">advised Russia to make a deal<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-643090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}