Russian dissident artist Semyon Skrepetsky shot dead in Biala Podlaska, Poland

On the morning of Monday 15 June 2026, a Russian artist and political caricaturist who worked under the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky was shot dead in a car park in Biala Podlaska, a town in eastern Poland about 40 km from the border with Belarus and roughly 600 metres from the Belarusian consulate. According to the district prosecutor's office in Lublin, an unidentified gunman fired two shots, then approached the fallen victim and fired three more at close range before fleeing. The 44-year-old, whose real name was Robert Kuzovkov, died at the scene. As reported by BBC News, investigators recovered five spent casings and a Geco 9 mm Luger round.

Kuzovkov had lived in Poland since 2021, when he left Russia citing fear of prosecution over his activism. He was known for satirical works mocking Vladimir Putin, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov, and had reportedly received death threats from Kadyrov's supporters demanding an apology. Days before his death he had taken part in a protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin.

Polish police launched an immediate manhunt and detained two Belarusian citizens, aged 33 and 37, near the Belarusian consulate. As reported by Notes from Poland and Euronews, the Lublin prosecutor's office, whose spokesman is Marcin Kozak, stressed that the two men have not been charged and that their possible connection to the killing is still being examined; officials declined to disclose further findings.

The killing has the hallmarks of a targeted, execution-style attack on a prominent Kremlin critic in exile, and it fits a documented pattern of violence against Russian dissidents abroad. Attribution, however, remains open: prosecutors have named no perpetrator, established no motive publicly, and the two detained Belarusians have not been charged or linked to the shooting. The reported Kadyrov-linked threats, the proximity to the Belarusian consulate and the victim's profile point toward possible state- or proxy-directed involvement, but this is assessed and circumstantial, not proven. The entry may change as the investigation develops.