The pro-Putin propagandist hiding from authorities in the Russian consulate in Sydney, Simeon Boikov, has launched an extraordinary attack on his hosts, saying they are subjecting him to “prison-like conditions” in a bid to “push me out”.
In an interview with the ABC, Boikov, who next month will have spent three years behind the consulate walls and whose wife is expecting their first child within weeks, directed a broadside at the consular staff.
He said he was “locked in” his room, unable to move around the consulate without a guard, was routinely refused visitors and had been denied permission to christen his son in the consulate.
“I’ve never felt welcome in this building for one day,” he said.
“There’s never been a minute that I felt welcome in this building, ever.
“It’s always been stressed. It’s always been on edge.
“This consulate staff did everything possible to try to set me up for failure, to make it so impossible.”
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Boikov’s first son is due to arrive in early December, but he says he is being denied the opportunity to christen him inside the consulate.
“They said, ‘You cannot christen the baby in the consulate.’ I said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘What’s going to happen?’
“I said, ‘We’ll get the priest. The priest will come, and we’ll christen the baby.'”
Boikov said the consulate told him it would not let the priest in.
“It’s illogical. And they’re poking me. They’re poking me and poking me. They want to try and push me out.”
The Russian consulate in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has been Simeon Boikov’s home for almost three years. (ABC News: Sissy Reyes)
Boikov, who goes by the nickname “Aussie Cossack”, has been living in the consulate since December 2022 after he assaulted a pro-Ukraine protester in central Sydney.
At the time, Boikov had just been released from jail after serving four months for breaching a court order suppressing the name of an orthodox priest who was facing trial on child sex charges.
He was on parole when he committed the assault and fled to the consulate to avoid an arrest warrant.
He was convicted of the assault in absentia.
Boikov said that despite his conditions he would never leave the consulate if it meant returning to jail.
“If I have a medical emergency and I need to call a doctor, don’t call the ambulance because I’m not going to leave,” he told the ABC.
“Call the funeral company to bring the hearse. I’m not going to leave alive.
“I will not leave here and go to the Australian prison system again.”
Request for welfare check denied
Boikov’s attack on his hosts follows the Russian consul general’s refusal of a request from NSW Libertarian Party parliamentarian John Ruddick for permission to visit Boikov at the consulate.
In a speech to the NSW upper house last week, Mr Ruddick argued Boikov deserved “some leniency” due to his role in securing the conviction of the paedophile priest he named, Alexis Rosentool, who has since been sentenced to 19 years in jail, and because of how long he has been in the consulate.
John Ruddick became friends with Simeon Boikov during the pandemic and has sought to visit him at the consulate. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
Following his speech, Mr Ruddick emailed the Russian consul general, Zarina Gabieva, seeking permission to visit Boikov to conduct a “welfare check”, but the request was refused due to what she called “current security restrictions”.
Boikov said when he queried the decision, Ms Gabieva “didn’t specify what security reasons”.
“But I’ve heard that phrase being used a few times now. And she just knocks back requests.”
Mr Ruddick told the ABC that he and Boikov became friends when Boikov invited him to speak at anti-lockdown events during the COVID-19 pandemic, prior to his election to parliament.
“He has become a mate and I’m grateful to him for letting me speak at his anti-COVID protests,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of political differences, but I’ve got mates with political differences and he’s one of them.”
Foreign ministry ‘infested’ with ‘pro-Western’ officers
From inside the consulate, Boikov regularly broadcasts pro-Russian propaganda, including support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, via the Telegram app, where he has tens of thousands of subscribers and a YouTube channel.
A joint investigation by the ABC and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has previously revealed that, while in the consulate, a Russian-backed organisation that has bankrolled the legal defence of alleged spies and criminals has paid some of Boikov’s legal bills.
The organisation, Pravfond, also successfully lobbied for him to be granted Russian citizenship.
The Australian government imposed sanctions on Pravfond shortly after the revelations due to its support for “individuals and entities attempting to influence public opinion abroad, including in relation to Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine”.
From the consulate Simeon Boikov broadcasts pro-Russian propaganda to his thousands of followers on social media. (Supplied)
Boikov says senior bureaucrats in Moscow continue to support him and his propaganda work, and that his complaints are directed at “lower-end bureaucrats”.
“I get the feeling that the only thing they want is for me to be taken out of here and sent to prison, and they will be happy with that,” he said.
He said the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) needed a “full purge” because it was “infested with people who are pro-Western”.
“That’s why they entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; to get out to the West,” he said.
“They can’t wait to leave and go to America and go to Australia and have a posting in some nice country where they can enjoy interactions with the Western world.
“And then they go and pack up and they move there.”
The Russian consulate did not respond to a request for comment.
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