‘There’s a twist to this story’: Aussie Cossack holds out hope for Jenkins as arrest looms

Wanted for assault and fearing a national security crackdown, ‘Aussie Cossack’ Simeon Boikov fears his hope for freedom has gone up in smoke with the unconfirmed execution of Oscar Jenkins.

‘Aussie Cossack’ Simeon Boikov outside Downing Centre Courts, Sydney CBD. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Self-styled “Aussie Cossack” Simeon Boikov’s aspirations for freedom could be shattered as, withthe fate of Australian foreign fighter Oscar Jenkins remaining uncertain, he potentially approaches the end of his consular immunity and fears charges of foreign interference.

The pro-Putin mouthpiece told The Australian on Thursday he had received appeals from the Kremlin to stay out of the next federal election, in what he says is a rare instruction by a foreign government he is regularly accused of taking instruction from.

Mr Boikov leads the alt-right-aligned Australian Cossack Society, gaining notoriety for his opposition on social media to Covid lockdowns, vaccine mandates and Ukrainian sovereignty.

He has sought refuge in Sydney’s Russian consulate since 2023 to avoid an assault charge for which he was convicted in ­absentia.

Facing two outstanding warrants from NSW police, accu­sations of foreign interference and community appeals for both the closure of the Russian consulate and expulsion of its ambassador, Mr Boikov saw a prisoner swap of himself for Mr Jenkins as his best hope of freedom.

His first NSW arrest warrant was for violating the conditions of his bail for a 2022 breach of suppression order, while his assault charge was laid in December 2022 when he pushed a 76-year-old man down a set of stairs at a Sydney rally in support of Ukraine.

Unconfirmed reports that Mr Jenkins has been executed by his Russian captors have rocked Mr Boikov’s hope of leaving the consulate a free man.

He expressed scepticism that Mr Jenkins was dead, suggesting the reports were a Ukrainian fabrication to stir up anti-Russian sentiment among the Australian public and government.

“I think there’s a twist to this story,” he told The Australian. “(I have) no animosity against Jenkins, he just looks like a confused individual, a normal person from Melbourne.

Australian Oscar Jenkins.

“He went to Melbourne Grammar School, I went to Trinity Grammar School in Sydney.

“He played cricket, I played cricket.

“It’s very unsettling and unusual that the Australian government, the Ukrainian government, and the Russian government, have nothing to say and no one knows (if Mr Jenkins is alive) … it gives me hope when I read DFAT saying it’s unconfirmed; I interpret that as DFAT saying there is hope, and he’s possibly alive.”

Mr Boikov has previously appealed to Wagner mercenaries and Russian frontline forces to capture Australians fighting overseas in service of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion in order to secure himself a prisoner swap.

“It’s disappointing. There was some hope there for myself and poor Jenkins,” he said.

“I’ve displayed goodwill for Jenkins from the beginning … and probably I was the only person thinking that way on a pro-Russian angle, there is a lot of animosity towards Western mercenaries.

“I would suggest to Australians fighting, if you get captured, drop my name, say to the Russians ‘Exchange me for Aussie Cossack’ as you are being captured – you’ll have much higher chances because I’m well known on the Russian side.

“You’ll have stronger chances to live.”

Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko has previously informed DFAT that Mr Jenkins is a Ukrainian soldier under international law, not a mercenary, though Russian counterparts have not indicated how he was branded upon capture.

Boikov told The Australian he was instructed by Russian diplomats in December to stay out of this year’s federal election, fearing it could be misconstrued as Russian foreign interference.

“The first time I’ve ever got instructions (from the Kremlin) was a few weeks ago, where the Russian’s (said) ‘we are asking, basically demanding that you do not in any way, shape or form, influence or interfere in the upcoming Australian federal election’,” he said.

“‘I was very surprised, and I said to them ‘I’m still an Australian citizen’, and they said ‘yes but you’re in the national consulate, it’s going to look very inappropriate. We don’t want to be accused of that’.”

Simeon Boikov, who calls himself the 'Aussie Cossack’, at a pro-Russia rally held outside the consulate-general of the Russian Federation building in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Despite this, Boikov suggested calls to expel Russian ambassador to Australia Aleksey Pavlovsky by opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham and Peter Dutton were an exercise in pre-election posturing.

“These threats against Russia that Dutton and Albo have been making the last few days, they’re just irresponsible. It’s not the Russian ambassador’s fault Oscar Jenkins from Melbourne went to Ukraine. It’s more likely to be the fault of Western propaganda,” he said.

“I think they’re trying to turn this into an election issue to show who’s tougher on Russia.”

Despite enlisting criminal lawyer Bruce Levet to aid in appeals for a prisoner swap, Boikov is already seeking new measures to avoid incarceration and bring the warrants against him to a close.

He has a Supreme Court appeal set for May over his conviction for breaching a suppression order, to which he pleaded guilty. He is also seeking to be sentenced in absentia for his assault conviction, saying he would leave Australia for Russia should he be given a sentence with no incarceration period. He was willing to be deported and renounce his Australian citizenship in the process.

Boikov said he feared commonwealth authorities would charge him with foreign interference should he settle his state legal battles.

“I’ve never gotten any instructions from the Russian ambassador, from the Russian embassy, from the Kremlin, from Russian intelligence agencies. I suspect that they do everything possible to keep as far away from me as possible.”

“Yes, I have influence. But my situation is unique, I’m the product of Australian multiculturalism.

“I want to go drive down the Hume Highway in a black landcruiser with a Russian flag hanging out of the sunroof, that is not really the type of behaviour that a normal Russian agent would exhibit. I’ve been very overt and haven’t been covert.”

Mr Levet said Boikov feared being rebranded a national security interest should he surrender to NSW Police.

“He has fears of returning to the prison system, not because he has fears of serving a sentence in the ordinary manner, but because he has fears for his safety in being imprisoned in circumstances where he’s … being considered a person of national security interest.

Mr Levet wrote to DFAT on behalf of Boikov to float a prisoner exchange, but DFAT said it could not progress any such negotiation until it confirmed Mr Jenkins’ condition. Several sources close to diplomatic negotiations told The Australian Mr Jenkins was far more likely to be exchanged for a Russian prisoner captured in Ukraine, should he be alive and party to exchange.

The Russian embassy and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke were contacted for comment.