A Russian man has been shot dead in Poland, with media reports indicating that he was an artist whose work ridiculed Vladimir Putin and that his killing appeared to be an “execution”.
However, the Polish authorities have not yet officially identified the victim, any suspects, or a motive for the killing.
On Monday morning, police in Biała Podlaska, a town of 55,000 in eastern Poland near the border with Belarus, received reports of a man being shot on a street near the city centre. The perpetrator (or, according to some reports, perpetrators) had immediately fled the scene.
The Polish authorities later confirmed that the victim had died and revealed that he was a 44-year-old Russian citizen who lived in Biała Podlaska.
“If someone approaches a specific person on the street and fires shots, everything indicates they planned to kill them,” said police spokesman Andrzej Fijołek, quoted by broadcaster TVN. “However, we don’t yet know the perpetrator’s motives.”
TVN and wPolsce24, another TV station, were the first to report that the victim was Semyon Skrepetsky, an artist who has been a vocal critic of Putin. Both broadcasters said that the manner of the killing had the hallmarks of an execution. Other Polish media outlets later carried similar reports.
Skrepetsky created satirical cartoons mocking Putin in particular, but which also featured other figures, such as Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
He reportedly left Russia in 2021 due to the fear of political persecution. Recent images from Skrepetsky’s social media show him in Poland.
Last week, the artist took part in a protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin, where he appeared with a Russian flag tied to his trousers while holding a picture depicting Stalin feeding a baby Putin.
On Monday afternoon, wPolsce24 claimed that one of two people suspected of killing Skrepetsky had been detained by police near the Belarusian consulate in Biała Podlaska and is himself Belarusian.
However, RMF, another broadcaster, later reported that police strongly denied that claim. Likewise, Polsat News reported, based on unnamed sources, that, while “several people” were detained by police in the wake of the killing, they have all since been released.
Police and prosecutors have not yet released any such information publicly, but have appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident or has knowledge about it to contact the authorities.
In recent years, Poland has become a primary target for Russia’s campaign of so-called “hybrid warfare”, including sabotage, arson, disinformation and cyberattacks, as well as last year’s drone incursions.
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