Russian artist and Putin critic shot dead in Poland

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyrzd5g6k2o

by 2OEH8eoCRo0 • 1 month ago

152 40 1 month ago

bbc.com

hootz• 1 month ago

Nothing to see here guys, we have already arrested the perpetrators, move along and hail Putin.

tartoran• 1 month ago

That's so sad. I just looked up his artwork and it's hilarious. RIP Semyon Skrepetsky

self_awareness2• 1 month ago

I want to believe.

https://vimeo.com/940390507

jasonvorhe• 1 month ago

Semyon Skrepetsky (born Robert Kuzovkov), a native of the Altai region, was known for his caricatures of politicians. He had drawn satirical portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, and the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. According to iStories, Skrepetsky had also criticized Ukrainian authorities and was listed in Ukraine’s Myrotvorets database, which designates individuals accused of crimes against Ukrainian national security.

Misleading title.

self_awareness2• 1 month ago

American HN crowd knows better.

cosmicgadget3• 1 month ago

Misleading how?

0x592• 1 month ago

headline makes it seem obvious who did it, but he didn't fall out of a window... so I'm going to wait for an investigation before I make up my mind

littlecranky67• 1 month ago

Russian assassins on foreign soil are also known to shot people during the day in broad daylight, just as [0] did in 2019 in Berlin Tiergarten park. Unfortunately, he was exchanged and is living freely after only a few years in german prison.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadim_Krasikov

cubefox4• 1 month ago

Prisoners exchanges should be illegal if the crimes are disproportionate as in this case.

Am4TIfIsER0ppos• 1 month ago

So who did the Germans get in exchange? Was it worth it like a basketball player for the Lord of War?

roenxi3• 1 month ago

The article also doesn't really outline anything that makes sense as a motive. I'd imagine there are a number of artists in Poland critical of ... pretty much anyone you care to name but especially the Russian leadership. Artists are hard to please.

The article seems to be hinting this was a Russian or Belarusian assassination, which might be true. Sounds like someone assassinated him. But if so there is a big hole to fill in the story on what a plausible reason is. Based on this my first guess would be that something in his private life spilled over, but I expect there is a section of the story that isn't in the news right now.

EDIT Also related only by the vaguest vibe, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeiweiCam is more what I'd expect for artistic dissidents and is truly remarkable modern art.

Barbing2• 1 month ago

Would it make sense to a government like that to assassinate one critic at random periodically just to keep fear high?

RIP

Edit: didn’t see him holding satirized pictures of that president, almost withdraw the question

cubefox4• 1 month ago

The article also doesn't really outline anything that makes sense as a motive.

False. The article makes it very clear what would make sense as a motive here.

zerobees• 1 month ago

The article also doesn't really outline anything that makes sense as a motive.

That is the whole point. You can't maintain a dictatorship if you let people get to the point of being a clear threat, because sooner or later, someone could slip through the cracks and take you out. You can't keep the leash this loose.

As a dictator, you must go after people for seemingly small things, such as merely expressing the wrong thoughts, making the wrong kind of art, and so on. That sends a message to everyone that even small transgressions carry an unacceptable risk, so if your neighbor keeps criticizing the government, maybe you should report them, not join their discussion club that may become a real political movement.

For a while after the revolution that established your regime, people are on their best behavior because you just finished summarily executing hundreds of thousands or millions for having the wrong views. But both in Russia and in China, it's been a long time since that happened, few people remember Stalin or Mao, and so you need to keep sending behavioral nudges in a different way.

Also, modern-day Russia embraces a "budget" / "disposable asset" approach to terrorism. If you're important enough, they will send an elite squad to poison you. If not, they literally recruit people on the internet to beat you up, set a warehouse on fire, etc. So you also have to look at developments like as something that's cheap and largely risk-free.

ahartmetz• 1 month ago

It seems obvious enough and there's a temporal correlation, too.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyrzd5g6k2o

Video posted recently on social media showed Skrepetsky at a Russia Day protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin on 12 June.
He had been carrying a painting caricaturing Putin and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, as well as a Russian flag tied to his trousers that had been dragging along the road.

The Russian trolls are out in force, suggesting that he might have been killed by some confused psychos or something.

0x592• 1 month ago

I'm just saying I don't yet have enough information to make up my mind. Take your name calling to Reddit.

diath• 1 month ago

There's so few gun related homicides in Poland that an execution style murder is 100% either mafia affairs or assassinations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Poland#Gun_deaths_...

cosmicgadget3• 1 month ago

When the victim fell to the ground, the perpetrator approached, fired three more shots and then quickly fled the scene. Robert K died at the scene," he added.

Could have been almost anything!

drysine• 1 month ago

Kadyrov and his son Adam with pigs' snouts

My money are on the president of Chechen republic.

shevy-java• 1 month ago

The KGB/FSB mafia is kind of in a state of war with the other european countries.

These executions follow a very similar pattern. Two other I can think of are Selimchan Changoschwili in 2019 and Maxim Kusminow in 2024; with regards to the latter, perma-drunk Dmitry Medvedev babbled about "a dog's death to a dog" nonsense. Tie to this the genocide Putin commits presently against Ukrainians.

I think there is no real "reasoning" possible with the current regime. It's not just Putin, naturally, but a whole parasitic society sitting and feeding on top of this mafia structure. Naturally a direct war is not really possible due to the mafia having access to nukes, but there has to be a complete shift - the diplomatic axis has to exist (no alternative to that from an objective view) while the military side also has to be strengthened, not only in Ukraine but all countries being close to Russia and the Belarus satellite state. Putin will never change as long as he is still alive. And even when he is gone, I have a slight feeling that it is more likely that one of the mafia group will take over anyway.

tim3332• 1 month ago

Naturally a direct war is not really possible due to the mafia having access to nukes

There is a bit of a war going on just now and the way to get back at Russia is to support Ukraine. Ideally to actually win rather than all the escalation management, Russia mustn't lose wimpery.

red-iron-pine• 1 month ago

as Russia unravels further expect to see more of this

everdrive2• 1 month ago

Putin is uncowed, clearly. It's hard to know what the truth of things is. It's clear he's on his back heels in Ukraine and at home, but perhaps he still holds a strong position.

INTPenis• 1 month ago

Who knows how these hits happen? Maybe the artist had a green light for a while but they hadn't been able to get a good opportunity. Do they operate like military or gangsters? I have a hard time telling the difference sometimes.

Are there mercenaries all over the world willing to kill for money from the various superpowers?

Or is it a more direct operation planned and executed in one sequence by intelligence members?

everdrive2• 1 month ago

I agree with your points, but I would prefer a world where Putin would say "call this off, it's too risky given the enmity we've fostered."

josefritzishere• 1 month ago

There is a Streisand affect at play here. Putin dislikes the criticism but of course far more people will be now exposed to the work of Semyon Skrepetsky via this news cycle.

NoSalt• 1 month ago

No, I'm shocked, I tell ya ... SHOCKED!

Russian artist and Putin critic shot dead in Poland

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