Russian artist who criticised Putin shot dead near home in Poland

An artist critical of Russia's President Vladimir Putin was shot and killed near his home in eastern Poland on Monday. 

The 44-year-old Russian victim, identified as Robert Kuzovkov by local media, was shot at close range in the town of Biala Podlaska.

Polish prosecutors said two Belarusian citizens, aged 37 and 33, were arrested near the Belarusian Consulate after the killing on Monday.

Marcin Kozak, a spokesperson for the district prosecutor in Lublin, confirmed that the victim, whom prosecutors identified as Robert K, was engaged in artistic activity in which he expressed criticism of the current actions of the Russian authorities.

The identity of the victim would be a key element for the investigation, Mr Kozak said.

Mr Kuzovkov, also known under his artistic pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, frequently criticised Putin and, in the days before his death, staged a protest against him.

He travelled to Berlin on Russia Day - the national holiday on Friday 12 June celebrating the country's sovereignty - and was filmed with an icon-like caricature of Joseph Stalin cradling Putin, according to the Meduza news outlet.

Prosecutors said Mr Kuzovkov was approached near his home three days later, at around 9.45am, by an unidentified man who fired two shots at him, then shot him three more times at close range before fleeing.

They added that the artist died at the scene of gunshot wounds to the head, chest and back.

They did not attribute the shooting to Moscow.

Poland says its role as a hub for civilian and military aid bound for Ukraine has made it a target for Russian spies gathering information and engaging in acts of sabotage.

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In November, a Polish government official accused Russian secret services of initiating a blast which hit a segment of a rail line linking Poland's capital, Warsaw, to the Ukrainian border.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk branded the event as an "unprecedented act of sabotage".

Russia has been accused of trying to assassinate its opponents abroad, including targeting exiled activists in France and Lithuania.

It was a botched assassination attempt, authorised by Vladimir Putin, by Russian agents on a former Russian spy that led to the novichok poisonings in Salisbury, England, in 2018.

Officials in Germany have also broken up plots targeting the head of a German weapons supplier to Ukraine and a Ukrainian military official.

Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in what they said was an alleged plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

That same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine was killed in Spain, with Russian operatives being the prime suspects.

(c) Sky News 2026: Russian artist who criticised Putin shot dead near home in Poland