Exiled Anti-Putin Artist Gunned Down in Poland

A Russian political cartoonist who fled his country is dead in what Polish authorities describe as an execution-style shooting near the Belarusian border. Prosecutors say 44-year-old Robert Kuzovkov—better known by his pseudonym, Semyon Skrepetsky—was gunned down on Monday morning in a parking lot in Biala Podlaska, roughly 2,000 feet from the Belarusian Consulate, reports the BBC.

A spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Lublin says an unidentified assailant approached Kuzovkov, fired twice, then shot three more times after he fell, killing him at the scene. Five shell casings and a 9mm bullet were recovered, per the rep; an autopsy is planned. Two Belarusian citizens, ages 33 and 37, were detained near the consulate, though their connection to the killing is still being examined.

Kuzovkov, who reportedly moved to the city in 2021, was known for sharp caricatures of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. He also made satirical drawings of Putin foes Alexei Navalny and Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, per Deutsche Welle and the Guardian. Video posted this month showed Kuzovkov at a Russia Day protest in Berlin with a painting mocking Putin and Stalin, with a Russian flag dragging from his pants. Authorities haven't publicly suggested a motive.