Russian artist Robert Kuzovkov, known as Seymon Skrepetsky, was gunned down Monday in Biała Podlaska, in eastern Poland. Two Belarusian nationals have been detained, though not yet charged, reports ArtReview, which adds that one was arrested close to the Belarusian consulate. The victim was found with five bullet wounds, reports UK’s Telegraph.
An artist and performer, Skrepetsky gained notice with his cutting portraits of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, and a conservative Moscow bishop, Patriarch Kirill. Ukrainian authorities had been targets for his criticism, notes the Telegraph, as had Russian opposition figures such as Alexei Navalny and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, as well as Maxim Katz, whose YouTube account criticizing the Russian government has nearly 2.5 million subscribers.
While a police spokesman told Polish news broadcaster TVN that the killers’ motives are unknown, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that this was likely a political assassination, reports France24. Opponents of Russian authorities have been murdered in countries including the UK, Germany, and Lithuania, notes the news site.
Marcin Kozak, the spokesman for the district prosecutor’s office in Lublin, is quoted in the Telegraph saying that an unidentified individual had “fired three shots from a handgun” and then, “As the man fell, the perpetrator approached him and fired two more shots at close range. An examination of the body revealed five entry wounds and two exit wounds—in the head and chest.” The paper notes that police sent officers to schools and nurseries where the artist’s children may have been in attendance.
The artist had lived in Poland since 2021 owing to fear of political persecution. He had just days ago been in Berlin, where he performed outside the Russian embassy holding a portrait of a grinning Josef Stalin holding an infant version of Putin in a composition that riffs on classic Orthodox icon paintings; both leaders have blood dripping from their mouths. The Telegraph reports that the artist pulled a Russian flag from his pants and threw it in a trash can.
He also traveled to Italy during the preview week of the current edition of the Venice Biennale, where a Getty photo shows him with two paintings satirizing Putin. Groups including Pussy Riot and FEMEN also staged demonstrations outside the Russia pavilion against the country’s participation in the event, which has been highly contested after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Telegraph notes that after his performance, he joked on his Telegram channel (reportedly since deleted) that it had been “very popular with Russian patriots,” and that he had been threatened with rape. ArtReview notes that just hours before his death, the artist posted images of threats he had received from Russians. The magazine notes that he had been listed in the Myrotvorets database, which tracks those the authors deemed “enemies of Ukraine.” The entry on him has reportedly been updated to reflect his status as “liquidated.”
