Polish police arrested a man as "suspect that he was involved in the murder", Monday in eastern Poland, an exiled Russian cartoonist, known for his sketches that ridicule Vladimir Putin, the Polish Prime Minister announced today.
This suspect ‘is using a Georgian passport. The agencies are trying to identify the man they ordered" the murder of the 44-year-old cartoonist, wrote Donald Tusk in H.
44-year-old Russian cartoonist Robert Kuzovkov, known by the stage name Semyon Skrepetsky, was killed Monday morning in the street by a man, who shot three times with a pistol.
When the artist fell, the perpetrator approached him and shot him twice in contact. Yesterday, Wednesday, Tusk said everything shows that it is "a political murder".
"If ordered from Russia, then this is also a very serious issue with an international dimension," Tusk added.
Semyon Skrepetski became known with his sometimes challenging caricatures aimed at Russian political first-line personalities. His sketches may have targeted President Vladimir Putin, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, opposition Alexei Navalny or even Chechen chief Ramzan Kadirov.
Semyon Skrepetski settled in Poland in 2021, expressing fears that in Russia he could undergo political persecution.
Dziś rano pod Warszawą policjanci z specjalnej grupy śledczej z Komendy Wojewódzkiej Policji w Lublini zatrzymali mężczyznę podejrzewanego o zabójstwo 44-letniego obywaitela Rosji w Białej Podlaskiej.
Zatrzymany posługuje się paszportem wystawionym na 36-letniego obywaitela... pic.twitter. com/gQJOMcAwlu— Policja Lubelska 🇵🇱 (@PolicjaLubelska) June 18, 2026
In exile he had maintained his iconoclast attitude, participating in Russian opposition events, which he also openly criticized.
On social media the sketch artist had also repeatedly criticised the Ukrainian government vividly. Following these criticisms, the controversial Ukrainian website Myrotvorets had made public his personal address.
Faces who oppose Russian power have been victims of external physical attacks or poison attacks, as in the United Kingdom, where former FSB agent Alexandre Litvinenko died in 2006 poisoned with polonium, while Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, survived in 2018 poisoning with Novichok, which also cost life to a British woman.
Moscow has always denied any involvement in these attacks.