Polish police arrest man for artist Semyon Skrepetsky's murder

June 18 (UPI) -- Police in Poland arrested a suspect in the murder of Russian artist Robert Kuzovkov, 44, publicly known as Semyon Skrepetsky, who was shot and killed Monday.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tuskannounced the arrest of a 36-year-old man with a Georgian passport. They haven't released the man's name.

Kuzovkov died in Biała Podlaska, which is about 25 miles from the border with Belarus. He had been a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov.

On Wednesday, Tusk said "everything indicates that this was a political assassination," but he said Polish authorities were still compiling "evidence and more concrete findings."

"If it turns out that Russia was behind this attack, it would constitute an act of state terrorism," Politico reported Tusk said.

"Authorities are working to identify the person who ordered the crime," Tusk wrote on X Thursday.

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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 11:50 AM.