04.02.1981–15.06.2026
Semyon Skrepetsky
Semyon Skrepetsky (1981–2026), real name Robert Kuzovkov, was a caricaturist, performance artist, musician and blogger. His satirical paintings, which were classed as neo-primitivism, mocked the Russian authorities, part of the Russian opposition and the leadership of Ukraine. From 2021 he lived in Poland; he wrote the satirical book “Russia-2028” about a post-apocalyptic Russia.
Biography
Semyon Skrepetsky called his style now “psychedelia”, now “skreprealism”. Others classed his manner as neo-primitivism, and he himself worked where caricature meets performance. To my mind the second of his own words is the more accurate: you can hear in it the very “skrepy”, the “bonds”, that he laughed at.
The artist’s real name was Robert Mubaryakovich Kuzovkov. He was born in 1981 in Beloretsk and lived in Altai Krai until 2021. He became known as a caricaturist under the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, though he also signed himself in other ways, for example Robert Burdai or Skreponosny Buzotyor. Drawing was not all: he ran a satirical video blog in which he combined drawing with political commentary, recorded songs in the trap style and wrote the book “Russia-2028” about the life and adventures of “an honest skrepets”, a digger in post-apocalyptic Russia. The book also exists in an English version.
In 2021, fearing political persecution, he left for Poland and settled in Biała Podlaska.
Among his recurring figures were Ramzan Kadyrov with his son Adam, Patriarch Kirill, the singer Shaman, Joseph Stalin and Alexander Lukashenko. Yet he chose his targets widely. Caricatures also went to figures of the Russian opposition, among them Alexei and Yulia Navalny and Maxim Katz, and to Ukrainian politicians, including Volodymyr Zelensky and Oleksiy Arestovych. For this he was entered in the Ukrainian Myrotvorets database, which accused him of spreading Russian propaganda and discrediting the Ukrainian army.
He took to the streets as well. On 1 March 2025, at a march in Berlin, Skrepetsky appeared in the clownish guise of a general-admiral hung with parody medals and orders. On 12 June 2026 he staged a one-man action outside the Russian embassy in Berlin and posted a video of it on his channel.
On 15 June 2026 Semyon Skrepetsky was killed in Biała Podlaska.
Profile notes