A suspect in connection with the killing of artist Semyon Skrepetsky has been detained in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
The detainee’s name has not been disclosed. According to Tusk, he used a Georgian passport. Whether he holds citizenship of other countries is unknown.
Lublin police said the suspect used a passport issued in the name of a 36-year-old Georgian citizen. He was detained on the morning of June 18 near Warsaw. The police statement included a photo of the arrest in an apartment, but the man’s face was concealed.
According to an Onet source, the detainee used forged documents. He is believed to be a native of Chechnya.
Tusk added that the special services are now identifying who ordered the crime.
Russian performance artist Semyon Skrepetsky was killed on June 15 in the city of Biała Podlaska. Two Belarusian citizens were initially detained in the case, including a taxi driver who had brought the participants in the attack from Warsaw. They were later released after it was established that they were not involved in the killing.
Skrepetsky was known for his caricatures, including of Vladimir Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov. He left for Poland in 2021, fearing persecution.
On June 12, three days before the killing, the artist staged an action outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin. He brought to the diplomatic mission a painting showing Putin in Stalin’s arms. After that action, Skrepetsky received threats, which he wrote about in his Telegram channel on the day he was killed.