A Russian artist greatest known for his unflattering caricatures of President Vladimir Putin was shot dead in Poland, prosecutors stated Tuesday, including that two Belarusian males had been arrested in reference to the killing.
Semyon Skrepetsky, 44, was killed in a suspected execution on Monday morning in a car parking zone close to his dwelling in Biała Podlaska, a city that sits close to Poland’s border with Belarus, the Polish Prosecutor’s District Office in Lublin stated in a press release.
Skrepetsky, whose actual title was Robert Kuzovkov, had lived in Poland since 2021, when he escaped Russia in worry that he could also be arrested for his activism.
“According to current information, the 44-year-old was approached by an unidentified man who fired two shots at him with a handgun. After the victim fell to the ground, the perpetrator approached, fired three more shots, and then quickly fled the scene,” Marcin Kozak, the prosecutors’ workplace spokesman stated. Skrepetsky was shot in the pinnacle and chest, and died on the scene, Kozak added.
A manhunt was launched instantly after the taking pictures and police detained two Belarusian residents, aged 37 and 33, close to the Belarusian Consulate in Biała Podlaska, Kozak stated. “Their roles in the incident are being investigated,” the assertion stated.
Skrepetsky was a prolific painter and a critic of Putin and his regime in addition to different Russian officers. His psychedelic work, generally painted in the type of Russian Orthodox icons, typically depicted Putin with a bovine nostril or hugging pigs.
He additionally typically painted Putin alongside different Russian officers, world leaders and different energy brokers, together with US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Xinping, the Chechen chief Ramzan Kadyrov, the Soviet chief Stalin and even Elon Musk.
Apart from being staunchly anti-Putin, Skerpetsky was additionally crucial of some components of the Russian opposition, together with the late activist Alexei Navalny whom he blamed for “destroying the entire Russian opposition.”
Skerpetsky was initially seen as very pro-Ukrainian, having publicly burnt his Russian passport simply after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukriane in 2022. However, he had grown extra crucial of Ukrainian management in the years since.