WARSAW(National Times)- A Russian artist known for his satirising President Vladimir Putin has been shot dead in eastern Poland, officials said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn investigation is being conducted\u2026 into the murder of a 44-year-old citizen of the Russian Federation\u2026 known in the media as Semyon Skrepetsky,\u201d a spokesman for the prosecutor\u2019s office in Lublin, Marcin Kozak, told journalists. Two Belarusian nationals have been arrested in connection with the killing, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were detained in the vicinity of the Belarusian consulate in Biala Podlaska in eastern Poland, where the killing took place. But according to Lublin police spokesman, Deputy Inspector Andrzej Fijolek, the hunt for the suspected perpetrator of the crime is ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are still looking for the man who committed this crime,\u201d he said, specifying that a special investigative team had been set up. According to Polish officials, Skrepetsky \u2014 whose real name is Robert Kuzovkov \u2014 was shot three times on Monday morning by an unidentified gunman armed with a handgun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the artist fell to the ground, he was approached by the assailant, who fired two more shots at close range. \u201cThe case is obviously serious,\u201d Polish government spokesman Adam Szlapka told the press on Tuesday, adding that Poland had offered the artist protection, which he declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the killing, the Polish press reported on Tuesday that Skrepetsky\u2019s family had been moved to a safe location. As it stands, \u201cno charges have been brought\u201d against the two detained Belarusians, Kozak said, adding that \u201cthey remain at the disposal of the prosector\u2019s office and the police\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case risks rekindling tensions between Poland and its neighbour Russia, which were exacerbated by drone crashes on Polish territory last autumn, which Warsaw blames on Moscow. \u201cIf the political nature of this crime is confirmed, we will be faced with a new manifestation of the escalation of actions carried out by Russia beyond its borders,\u201d head of the Poland\u2019s National Security Bureau (BBN) Bartosz Grodecki wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPoland cannot become a space for such actions.\u201d Skrepetsky was known for his sometimes provocative caricatures, which targeted prominent Russian political figures \u2014 ranging from Putin and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to opposition figure Alexei Navalny and Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WARSAW(National Times)- A Russian artist known for his satirising President Vladimir Putin has been shot dead in eastern Poland, officials said on Tuesday. \u201cAn investigation is being conducted\u2026 into the murder of a 44-year-old citizen of the Russian Federation\u2026 known in the media as Semyon Skrepetsky,\u201d a spokesman for the prosecutor\u2019s office in Lublin, Marcin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n