Warsaw, Poland – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has long been one of the most loyal and dependable allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Therefore, it was not much of a surprise that two Belarusian citizens were arrested this Monday after one of the former KGB Lt. Col.’s most vocal critics was shot dead here in Poland in the city of Biala Podlaska.
Putin at November 2023 Science Fair Russian Government Photo
Adding more credibility to the involvement of Lukashenko’s intelligence services is that the individuals – aged 33 and 37 – were taken into custody near the Belarusian Consulate.
In the absence of any other scenarios being presented at motivation for the murder, the obvious assumption is that the two were acting on behalf of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the chief intelligence organ that operates on Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian territory, and also Putin’s alma mater.
“Their roles in the incident are being investigated,” say prosecutors.
Russia has a record of “outsourcing” acts of murder and sabotage to its Belarusian allies.
A November 2025 assessment from the Atlantic Council on this theme notes that there has been an increasing number of incidents in which Moscow no longer employs its “traditional intelligence networks.”
Instead, “after the expulsion of hundreds of Russian diplomats across Europe, many of whom served as intelligence officers, the Kremlin adapted,” reads the assessment.
“What has emerged is a fragmented, semi-outsourced approach that resembles a gig-economy model.”
“Individuals recruited through Telegram or other online platforms, often with little understanding of who they are working for, carry out disruptive tasks for modest payments.
Cryptocurrency transfers replace diplomatic pouches, and encrypted messages substitute for direct handling,” states the Council’s report.
Vocal Critic of Putin in Exile
The victim in this incident was an active and high-profile critic of Putin named Robert Kuzovkov.
The 44-year-old artist published his work under the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky and fled Russia in 2021 due to fear of political persecution.
Through his art, he had “expressed criticism of the current policies of the Russian authorities,” Polish prosecutors said in a statement.
Among his works were unflattering portraits of Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, and other high-ranking Russian officials.
On 12 June, only days before his death, he held a protest outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin. He had been carrying a painting caricaturing Putin being cradled like a small child by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
He had also tied a Russian flag to his trousers that had been dragging along behind him in the street.
Kuzovkov later posted a video on his YouTube channel showing him putting that same Russian flag in a rubbish bin.
The date of the protest is a national holiday that commemorates the official recognition of the sovereignty of present-day Russia.
Three days later, Kuzovkov was assassinated.
An Execution-Style Killing
Marcin Kozak, a spokesman for the Polish prosecutor’s office, said Kuzovkov had been approached near his home around 0945 hours by an as-of-yet unidentified man.
That individual then fired two shots at him.
“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.
Five shell casings and one Geco 9mm Luger bullet were recovered from the grounds near the site of the crime, Kozak said.
To date, the prosecutors have not attributed the slaying to Moscow, and Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Since invading Ukraine in 2022, both Belarus, which allowed Moscow to base the main Russian invasion force on its territory, and Russia have been accused of trying to assassinate opponents abroad.
These activities have included targeting of exiled activists in France and Lithuania.
In prior incidents, internal security agencies in Germany have foiled plots targeting the CEO of the German defense enterprise Rheinmetall, which is a main supplier to Ukraine, and also a plot against a Ukrainian military official.
Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024, whom they charged with a plan to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who had previously defected was assassinated in Spain, with those involved suspected of being operatives acting on Moscow’s orders.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, with a specialization in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
