‘Disposable pawn’: Aussie Cossack condemned by Sydney Russians

An Australian-Russian group has denounced a Moscow propagandist as a “disposable pawn” of the Kremlin after he called on Vladimir Putin’s army to trade him for Australians captured in Ukraine.

But the “Aussie Cossack” holed up in Sydney’s Russian consulate says he is trying to keep Australians from being executed on the battlefield.

Simeon Boikov, known by his online moniker Aussie Cossack, has been hiding out in the consulate since a Sydney court issued an arrest warrant in December. He was on parole for breaching a suppression order and wanted for the alleged assault of a pro-Ukrainian protester when he sought asylum.

Russian-Australian Ilya Fomin (main picture) has denounced Simeon Boikov (inset) for calling on Russia to trade him for captured Australians in Ukraine.Credit: James Brickwood, Dominic Lorrimer

Svoboda Alliance, a Russian community group, was disturbed to hear Boikov issue a plea to the commander of the loathed Wagner Group to orchestrate a prisoner swap under which he would be exchanged for a captured Australian.

“The Kremlin tends to see even its supporters more like disposable pawns rather than valuable allies,” Svoboda president Ilya Fomin said.

Fomin burns his Russian passport in protest at the invasion of Ukraine.Credit: Steven Siewert

“We find it at least unethical … that Mr Boikov calls the Wagner Group – the one accused of committing war crimes in different countries – to hunt and capture Australians.”

Boikov said he was seeking to save the lives of the Australians he named in a video and prevent Russian troops from “liquidating them on the spot”.

“They’re in danger not because of me but because of their own choice to fight in Ukraine,” he said.

“My appeal is to actually save these guys. This could be the only thing stopping them from being executed. They can surrender, this is not a joke.”

A diplomatic solution between Canberra and Moscow is now probably the only chance for Boikov, an Australian citizen, to get from the Woollahra consulate to Russia without being arrested.

“The only way to leave here, in light of Australia being an island, is through a diplomatic solution,” Boikov says in the Russian-language video to Wagner’s commander.

“I propose to review the possibility of a prisoner exchange, so I am able to leave Australia and move to Russia to continue my service.”

Four Australians have been killed fighting in Ukraine.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would not comment on the charges against Boikov but said he would be afforded due process in Australian legal proceedings.

“Mr Boikov’s suggestion that fellow Australians should be targeted in Ukraine is abhorrent,” they said. “Australia condemns Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion and stands steadfastly with Ukraine.”

Fomin said Boikov “undermined the integrity of Australian society” through his positions on Russia and through his leading role in the anti-vaccination movement during the pandemic.

Boikov said he despised the Svboda Alliance, and those who turned against Russia over the war would find no doors open to them.

“I remind our [Russian] diaspora that, at the eleventh hour ... in the dark hour, you don’t want to be embarrassed for your position,” he said.

Boikov uses his online channels to spread vehemently pro-Russian politics but, according to Fomin, his value to the Kremlin could be as a propaganda symbol himself.

“The recent arrests of Mr Boikov for crimes under the NSW laws were widely used by Russian propaganda to represent him as a political prisoner,” Fomin said.

“He is definitely useful for the Kremlin in his current role of ‘Russian Julian Assange’.”

Boikov said he would be taken care of in Russia as a “compatriot”.

“I’m not a traitor, so doors will open for me in Russia,” he said. “I will never burn my passport, I love Australia, I love this country.”

Fomin is less confident about Boikov’s future in Russia.

“We, especially those who moved overseas because of Putin’s unlawful regime, have been always wondering why he doesn’t move to Putin’s Russia if he really likes it, and its president, so much.”

The Russian consulate was contacted for comment.

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