A Russian artist and cartoonist known for his satirical portrayals of Russian President Vladimir Putin was shot dead in eastern Poland on Monday in what local media have described as a possible execution-style killing.

The victim was identified by several Polish broadcasters as Semyon Skrepetsky, a 44-year-old Russian citizen who had been living in the city of Biała Podlaska, near Poland’s border with Belarus, News.Az reports, citing Anadolu.

Polish police confirmed that a 44-year-old Russian national was shot on a street close to the city center on Monday morning and later died from his injuries.

The assailant or assailants fled the scene following the attack.

One Polish broadcaster reported that a Belarusian citizen was detained near the Belarusian consulate in Biała Podlaska shortly after the shooting. However, authorities have not officially confirmed any arrest in connection with the case.

Prosecutors and police have launched a formal investigation, with additional details expected in the coming days. Investigators have not announced a motive, and there is currently no publicly available evidence linking the attack to Russian state actors.

The killing occurred against a backdrop of heightened tensions between Poland and Russia. Warsaw has repeatedly accused Moscow and its ally Belarus of carrying out hybrid operations against Poland, including cyberattacks, sabotage attempts, disinformation campaigns and the use of migration pressure along the European Union’s eastern frontier.

According to police spokesman Andrzej Fijolek, the circumstances indicate that the victim may have been deliberately targeted.

“If someone approaches a specific person on the street and fires shots, everything indicates they planned to kill them,” Fijolek told Polish media, while emphasizing that investigators have not yet determined the motive behind the attack.

Polish broadcasters TVN and wPolsce24 identified the victim as Skrepetsky, an artist whose cartoons frequently mocked Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and other figures associated with the Russian government. Reports said he left Russia in 2021 out of concern over possible political persecution.

Just days before the shooting, Skrepetsky participated in a protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin. Images shared on social media showed him holding artwork depicting Soviet leader Joseph Stalin feeding a baby Putin.

In recent years, Polish authorities have detained several individuals accused of spying for Russia and Belarus, while warning that Russian intelligence services remain active throughout Central Europe. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, several European countries have also reported suspected acts of sabotage allegedly linked to Russian interests.

If investigators determine that the attack was a targeted killing of an anti-Kremlin artist living in exile, it is likely to draw comparisons with previous attacks on Russian dissidents, journalists and government critics both inside Russia and abroad.

One of the most notable cases remains the 2006 killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead after years of criticism of the Kremlin and the war in Chechnya.

The incident is particularly sensitive for Poland because it took place near the Belarusian border at a time when the country's security services remain on heightened alert over Russian and Belarusian activities in the region.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev