“If someone approaches a specific person on the street and fires shots, everything indicates they planned to kill them,” he told Polish media, while stressing that investigators have not yet established a motive.
Polish broadcasters TVN and wPolsce24 reported that the victim was Skrepetsky, an artist whose satirical cartoons frequently mocked Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and other figures associated with the Russian government. He reportedly left Russia in 2021, fearing political persecution.
Just days before his death, Skrepetsky took part in a protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin. Images circulated on social media showed him carrying artwork depicting Soviet leader Joseph Stalin feeding a baby Putin.
Polish authorities have in recent years detained individuals accused of spying for Russia and Belarus and have publicly warned that Russian intelligence services remain active across Central Europe. Several European countries have also reported suspected Russian-linked sabotage operations since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.
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If confirmed as a targeted killing of an anti-Kremlin artist living in exile, the case would inevitably draw comparisons with previous attacks on Russian dissidents, journalists and critics both inside Russia and abroad.
Among the most prominent examples is the 2006 murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead after years of criticism of the Kremlin and the war in Chechnya.
For Poland, the case is particularly sensitive because it occurred near the Belarusian border at a time when security services are already on heightened alert over Russian and Belarusian activities in the region.
