Aussie Cossack welcomes baby… from inside Russian consulate in Sydney

The “Aussie Cossack”, a pro-Russian activist, has welcomed the birth of his first child while marking three years hiding out from authorities inside his motherland’s consulate in Sydney.

Simeon Boikov, 35, could not be with his wife Katia as she gave birth to a son, in a Sydney hospital on Friday evening.

“My first thoughts are that [Vladimir] Putin would be very proud,” Boikov told this masthead moments after the birth.

“If the Australian government would allow me, I would love to take my son to grow up in Russia.”

Self-described as the Russian president’s man in Australia, Boikov has been hiding out in the Russian consulate in Sydney since December 14, 2022 to evade an arrest warrant.

Since entering the consulate, Boikov has been granted a Russian passport but claims he has been socially isolated while living in a small apartment inside the gated Woollahra complex, which houses Russia’s diplomats.

He has not been isolated from his wife, who lives in Sydney’s inner west and visits Boikov in the consulate.

“This is the best thing I’ve done in my three years since being here,” Boikov said.

“This is a self-imposed prison, but we would never have been able to do this if I was in a real prison.”

“I just told my cat: we have a son.”

Boikov was the target of an arrest warrant after an altercation with a pro-Ukrainian protester near Sydney’s Town Hall in December 2022.

He had allegedly pushed the older man, who fell and struck his head, but argued the older man had confronted him.

Boikov was, at the time, on parole after being imprisoned for naming a paedophile within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). That paedophile is now serving decades in prison for abusing people within the community.

Boikov, if he walks from the consulate, will be arrested and ordered to serve the remaining weeks of his parole.

Boikov’s greater fear, and the reason he has not left the consulate, is being charged with foreign interference by the Australian Federal Police for his pro-Russian vlogs and activities.

He insists he has never acted contrary to Australia’s interests, but wants to return to Russia or fade into obscurity after years of courting controversy.

“I want to hang up my boots in Dandenong, or Broome, or Siberia,” he said.

“I want to throw a fishing line into the water with my son, to give my wife a sense of normality.”

Mrs Boikov, a staunch supporter of her husband, insists she loves Australia and does not want to leave.

“Such is life,” Boikov said, quoting Australian outlaw Ned Kelly.

“We Russians are used to the hard road.”

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