Murder of artist in Biała Podlaska. Five close-range shots killed Semyon Skrepezski
Kremlin critic Semyon Skrepezski was shot dead in Biała Podlaska. Police detained a suspect with a Georgian passport. Warsaw has not ruled out Moscow's involvement in the murder.
Murder of artist in Biała Podlaska. Five close-range shots killed Semyon Skrepezski
On the past Monday in Biała Podlaska in eastern Poland, the murder of Robert Kusowkow, known by the artistic pseudonym Semyon Skrepezski, took place. The man was killed by five shots fired from a very close range.
Since 2021, Skrepezski had been living in exile in Poland. He created satirical material in which he mocked Russian authorities. His main targets were Vladimir Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov and Alexander Lukashenko, though he also did not spare Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or the Russian opposition.
Polish services informed that the artist had refused police protection despite receiving threats.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the detention of another man. Police are largely convinced that they have apprehended the perpetrator of the shooting. The detainee was using a suspicious Georgian passport and was arrested in Piasów near Warsaw.
Coordinator of special services Tomasz Siemoniak informed that the detainee has a criminal history. However, he noted that recruiting criminals as one-time agents is a known method of foreign intelligence services.
Tusk after the detention explained that services are working to establish who commissioned the murder. On Wednesday, he called the case a "political murder". If a Russian lead is confirmed, the incident will take on a "very serious international dimension".
Earlier, police temporarily detained two Belarusian citizens, but they were soon released due to lack of suspicion of committing a crime.
The murder shook the sense of security of Poles. In four years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has repeatedly felt the effects of the war. In 2024, a Warsaw shopping mall burnt down – according to authorities "as a result of arson commissioned by Russian services". In November 2025, an attack occurred on the strategic railway line Warsaw–Lublin. In September 2025, approximately twenty Russian drones violated Polish airspace.
Security expert Jacek Raubo from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań warned that if Russian inspiration is confirmed, "there is a risk that similar attacks may affect citizens of NATO countries critical of Putin or engaged in support of Ukraine".
Andrzej Szabaciuk from the Institute of Central Europe in Lublin believed that the shots were intended as a warning against mocking dictators. In his view, the involvement of Kadyrov's circle was most likely.
On Thursday in Brussels, Tusk clearly stated that any confirmation of Russian authorship of the murder would mean an attack on Poland's sovereignty of a new kind. "In Poland this would be the first murder with a political motivation commissioned by a foreign state," emphasised the head of government.
Source: GMX
Source: Google News CH — Crime (de)