An Australian pro-Putin activist who has spent nearly three years holed up inside the Russian consulate in Sydney has claimed that his hosts are trying to ‘push’ him out.
Simeon Boikov, also known as the ‘Aussie Cossack’, has launched an extraordinary attack on consulate staff, claiming they have subjected him to ‘prison-like’ conditions.
The propagandist, who fled to the consulate after assaulting a pro-Ukraine protester in Sydney in December 2022, is expecting a son with his wife in early December.
He claimed that he had been ‘locked’ in his room, routinely refused visitors and was denied permission to christen his son at the consulate, in Sydney’s exclusive Woollahra.
He added that the conditions have left him stressed and on edge.
‘I’ve never felt welcome in this building for one day. The consulate staff did everything possible to try to set me up for failure, to make it so impossible,’ Boikov told ABC News.
‘It’s illogical. And they’re poking me. They’re poking me and poking me. They want to try and push me out.’
Boikov has been hiding from Australian authorities since for almost three years, since he assaulted a 76-year-old man at a pro-Ukraine rally at Sydney Town Hall.
Simeon Boikov has launched an extraordinary attack on staff at the Russian consulate in Sydney, where he’s been holed up for the last three years
Simeon Boikov is is expecting a son with his wife within weeks
He posted a video to his since-suspended YouTube channel after the rally which showed him in a scuffle with the man, who fell backwards down the stairs, and was rushed to hospital with a head injury.
Boikov was on parole at the time of the assault, having just served six months in prison for naming a since-convicted paedophile, contrary to a court suppression order.
Police charged Boikov, revoked his parole and seized his passport after the rally.
After being told he would be taken into custody, he drove straight to the Russian consulate, was granted asylum and has been holed up there ever since.
He was convicted of the assault in his absence in February 2023.
He stressed that his current gripes were directed at ‘lower-end bureaucrats’ at the consulate, adding that senior officials in Moscow continue to back him and his propaganda efforts.
‘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 told the ABC.
Despite his complaints, he insisted he would sooner die inside the consulate than leave and risk another stint behind bars.
Simeon Boikov is pictured at the ‘Stand with Russia’ rally at the Russian consulate in Sydney in March 2022. He sought refuge there later that year after assaulting a pro-Ukrainian protester
‘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 said.
‘Call the funeral company to bring the hearse. I’m not going to leave alive.’
Daily Mail contacted Boikov and the Russian consulate in Sydney for comment.
