By Perry Duffin
A senior priest of the Russian church in Australia can be revealed as a paedophile after a court suppression order concealed his name from the public as he faced trial.
Meanwhile, a devout Kremlin propagandist has chalked up 930 days hiding in Sydney’s Russian consulate after flagrantly breaching the same suppression order, having played a bizarre part in the priest’s downfall.
Alexis Rosentool, a senior priest of the Russian Church in Australia, has been found guilty of child sexual abuse.Credit: YouTube
Alexis Rosentool is a senior figure in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, a branch of the church that went into exile during the rise of the Soviet Union in 1920. Last week he was found guilty of four charges related to his abuse of three males, this masthead can reveal.
Two male victims were indecently assaulted in the 1980s, and Rosentool had an “unlawful sexual relationship” with a child victim two decades later.
Details of the crime are sparse because Rosentool’s name has been suppressed by the courts for years. The order suppressing his name only lifted as the priest was taken into custody to await sentencing.
An unusual twist to the saga involves a Sydney-born, pro-Russian YouTuber who calls himself the “Aussie Cossack”, whose collaboration with police contributed to Rosentool’s arrest.
Simeon Boikov waves from the Russian consulate in Sydney in April 2023. He remains in a self-imposed exile after breaching the suppression on Rosentool’s name, and assaulting a Ukraine supporter.Credit: Wolter Peeters
However, Simeon Boikov’s involvement has also resulted in him spending time in jail before he eventually fled to the Russian consulate in Woollahra to avoid rearrest weeks after being released.
Boikov, 35, rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic by organising and speaking at anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine rallies in Sydney.
He was raised in the Russian Orthodox Church and in late 2019 learnt that Rosentool was an abuser at the monastery in Bombala on the NSW South Coast where he was based.
“There was a culture of suppression,” Boikov told this masthead.
“People gave excuses: ‘it was before my time’, ‘don’t rock the boat’. It infuriated me.”
Boikov began collaborating with police, and encouraging victims to make statements.
“I felt it was my mission to get this over the line,” he said.
When Rosentool was arrested and charged in May 2022, a suppression was put over his name to prevent Boikov from tainting a jury pool with his enormous social media following.
Simeon Boikov and Russian general Sergey Bobrov pose with a group described by Boikov as “Cossacks from Australia at a Spetsnaz training facility in Russia”. Boikov fears he will face foreign interference charges if he leaves the consulate.Credit: Svoboda Alliance NSW Inc
However, Boikov hosted an anti-lockdown rally at Circular Quay days later and, in a live-streamed speech, defiantly called out Rosentool’s name, violating the court suppression order.
“Now, guys, let’s make a very scandalous announcement here as well,” Boikov told the crowd.
Boikov was charged with recklessly breaching the suppression order, convicted and jailed for 10 months.
His time in custody was spent in the strictest conditions after he was classified as a national security risk. Boikov supports Russian President Vladimir Putin and in 2014 allegedly journeyed to the Donbas to meet the Russian militant who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
After four months in prison Boikov was paroled in September 2022, and weeks later was approved by the parole authority to travel to Russia. A good friend, a priest, had just been killed on the frontline.
While buying thermal underwear, Boikov spotted a group of pro-Ukrainian activists at Town Hall and began filming.
A 76-year-old man confronted Boikov, who pushed the older man away. The older man fell and struck his head.
Boikov claimed self-defence but was charged, and released, by police without his passport.
However, the parole authority wanted to bring the propagandist back to custody. The assault on the Ukraine supporter, they believed, had violated his parole.
In April 2023, this masthead reported the first interview with Boikov after he made the fateful decision to seek shelter in the Russian consulate, rather than see out his parole period in prison.
This coming week Boikov will chalk up 930 days inside the consulate.
The ABC this year reported Boikov’s legal fees were paid by a fund bankrolled by Russian intelligence agencies. It also revealed tensions between the propagandist and the consulate staff.
He was convicted in absentia of assaulting the Ukraine supporter but can no longer annul that conviction because so much time has passed.
He will immediately be arrested once leaving the consulate but police and lawyers don’t believe he will do an extra day in prison for the assault.
“He spent 2½ years in the consulate to avoid – drumroll – four weeks in prison for the suppression,” one police source with knowledge of Boikov’s cases said.
Boikov says he remains in hiding because he fears more significant charges being laid, after accusations of foreign interference were levelled against him by Ukrainians in Australia and in the media.
“My psych sits there thinking I must be delusional, thinking there’s a way out of here,” Boikov said with a laugh.
“It’s hard to say I’m of sound mind. Would a person of sound mind stay here for 930 days?”
During Boikov’s legal and diplomatic dramas Rosentool continued to face suppressed court hearings but his absence was noted by the diocese.
“The Ecclesiastical Court has received letters of support of Archimandrite Alexis, as well as new letters of complaints from various people,” his church wrote in late 2019.
“The suspension of priestly function placed on Archimandrite Alexis as well as temporary removal from all priestly duties remains in force until the conclusion of the investigation.”
Rosentool will face a sentence hearing in August.
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