Russian artist Robert Kuzovkov, a vocally critical dissident of Vladimir Putin and the Chechen Republic’s eccentric pro-Putin leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was shot dead Tuesday at his home in eastern Poland.
Kuzovkov, who also went by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was known for using art to criticize and satirize Russian politicians. Polish prosecutors said that Kuzovkov was shot five times in the head, chest and back in the morning hours of Monday in Biała Podlaska, a small Polish town located some 25 miles away from the Belarusian border.
Marcin Kozak, spokesperson of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin, detailed that two Belarusian nationals, aged 37 and 33, were arrested near Belarus’s Consulate in Biała Podlaska. Their roles in the incident are being investigated by local authorities at press time.
“According to the findings so far, an unidentified man approached the 44-year-old man who was there and fired two shots at him from a handgun. When the victim fell to the ground, the perpetrator moved closer, fired three more shots, and then hurriedly fled the scene. Robert K. died at the scene,” a statement from Kozak read.
A man identified 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 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. (Vasily Krestyaninov/SOTA via AP)
“During a detailed examination of the scene where the body was found and an external examination of the deceased’s body, it was determined that he had a total of seven gunshot wounds in the upper front and rear parts of his torso (including wounds to the head, chest, and back), five of which were identified as entry wounds and two as exit wounds,” the text continued.
Kozak said that Kuzovkov, using the alias of Semyon Skrepetsky, engaged in public activities and the pseudonym to express “criticism of the current policies of the Russian Federation authorities.”
The BBC reports that Kuzovkov fled Russia in 2021 fearing criminal prosecution and was given asylum by Poland in Biała Podlaska.
He reportedly continued to produce satirical caricatures in exile, some of which portray Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov, and other high-ranking Russian officials in an unflattering manner.
Euronews detailed that he also maintained a “contrarian stance,” attending Russian opposition events while openly criticizing the opposition itself. Videos published by Kuzovkov on his YouTube channel showed him attending a Russia Day protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin on Friday holding a satirical painting of Joseph Stalin and Putin.
“I kept telling him: ‘Mate, they’re going to come for you, they’re going to come for you, they’re going to come for you. Please be prepared, always stay alert,” Bulat Subkhankulov, a friend of Kuzovkov, told the BBC on Tuesday.
I kept telling him that it could end badly… Eventually I realized there was no point. That’s just the kind of guy he was: completely reckless and stubborn,” he continued.
