❗️Pro-Putin activist and asylum seeker Simeon Boikov, currently holed up in the Russian consulate in Sydney after being charged with assault of a 76-year-old man at a pro-Ukraine rally in 2022, was gleeful at the news of Mr Jenkins’ capture.

Mr Boikov has offered himself as part of a “prisoner exchange” urging the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs officials as well as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to get in touch, warning Jenkins faces decades in prison.

Mr Boikov lauded the Russians for not killing Jenkins.

On his Telegram site, Mr Boikov said: “Of course, it’s disgusting that he’s a mercenary, but we need him, we need him for an exchange.”

He said the only way Mr Jenkins could avoid 35 years in a gulag would be through a prisoner exchange, adding: “I am volunteering, to put myself forward”.

Via The Australian

❗️A pro-Kremlin propagandist holed up in the Russian consulate in Sydney is offering himself up for a prisoner swap for Melbourne man Oscar Jenkins, who was recently captured by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Footage of Mr Jenkins, 32, getting interrogated began circulating on pro-Russian social media channels on Sunday.

The video showed Mr Jenkins being hit several times while his hands are tied.

NewsWire could not independently verify when the video was shot.

Mr Jenkins was trophied about online as a Western mercenary, including by Australian-Russian Simeon Boikov, known by his moniker Aussie Cossack.

He posted a video on his Telegram channel calling Mr Jenkins’ capture “excellent news”.

“Thank you to the Russian military. Glory to the Russian military,” Boikov said in the video.

“They’ve taken Oscar Jenkins, an Australian mercenary, prisoner. Now we have an Australian prisoner, finally.”

Boikov has been hiding in the Russian consulate since he was convicted of assaulting a 76-year-old man at a pro-Ukraine rally in Sydney more than two years ago.

Since entering the consulate he has been pumping out Kremlin disinformation from a makeshift studio, including politically-charged falsehoods around the high-profile stabbings in Sydney earlier this year and the 2023 Voice referendum.

“The only way Oscar Jenkins is going to avoid 35 years in a gulag is if the Australian government agrees to a prisoner exchange deal,” Boikov said.

“I’m volunteering my candidacy. I’m happy to put myself forward, and I’m sure the Russians will be happy to accept ... me because I’ve been sitting in this Russian consulate for two years waiting for this moment.”

He called on Anthony Albanese to “do a deal”.

“We’re celebrating here in the Russian Consulate,” Boikov said.

“Glory to the Russian military. Thank you very much for doing this and keeping him alive. Keep him alive, don’t kill him, don’t torture him. He’s an Australian, he did the wrong thing, he’s a mercenary.

“But we need him. We need him for a prisoner exchange deal.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Boikov citizenship last year.

Via News.com.au

Sydney political prisoner ‘Aussie Cossack’ offers himself for captured Australian mercenary

Simeon Boikov has offered himself in a prisoner exchange for Australian Oscar Jenkins, captured by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Boikov, who has been holed up in Russia’s Sydney consulate under self-described political persecution for two years, suggested a swap to secure Jenkins' release from what he calls potentially "35 years in a gulag."

The offer, made from his "celebratory" consulate office, puts pressure on the Australian government to negotiate with Russia.

#SMO

❗️Self-styled “Aussie Cossack” Simeon Boikov says he is ready to be swapped for a Melbourne man captured by Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine, declaring a prisoner exchange will save Australian mercenary Oscar Jenkins from a Russian gulag.

Hours after Russian forces released video of Mr Jenkins being interrogated after his capture in Donbas, Australian-born Boikov, who has been holed up in Russia’s Sydney consulate for more than two years in defiance of two police warrants, said Mr Jenkins “doesn’t have many other choices”.

Hours after Russian forces released video of Mr Jenkins being interrogated after his capture in Donbas, Australian-born Boikov, who has been holed up in Russia’s Sydney consulate for more than two years in defiance of two police warrants, said Mr Jenkins “doesn’t have many other choices”.

“It’s clear on the video that they’re interrogating him, and they’ve been beating him as they’re interrogating him, because the Russians don’t look kindly upon mercenaries,” he told The Australian.

“So the only way this Jenkins character is ever going to return back to Australia safely and quickly is if there’s a deal on the table. And I’m happy to be part of a deal.”

The Russian video, circulated on Telegram, shows Mr Jenkins being interrogated after his capture in Donbas and telling his captors he is 32 and lives in both Australia and Ukraine.

Dressed in camouflage and with dirt on his face, Mr Jenkins is hit on the side of the head twice in the footage, by a Russian military interrogator.

Boikov said he had appealed to Russian officials: “Don’t beat him. Don’t kill him. Let’s exchange him.”

His comments came after Russian politician Viktor Petrovich Vodolatsky proposed a “prisoner swap” involving the “Aussie Cossack”, who was granted Russian citizenship last year in a special decree by President Putin.

Responding to Mr Vodolatsky, Boikov said: “The Russians are very clearly saying, yes, they’re keen on this. I thought this day might happen.”

He said Mr Jenkins faced an uncertain future in Russia in the absence of a prisoner swap.

“How is Oscar going to escape the gulag? He’s been caught, and he’s in trouble. Big trouble. He’s got no protections. I feel sorry for him.

“Let’s work together on this one. Let’s send the Aussie Cossack back to Russia and bring Oscar home.”

Boikov has engaged Sydney barrister Bruce Levet to represent his interests in the matter.

Mr Levet said he had written a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade setting out Boikov’s proposal and seeking to establish the government’s position on the matter.

Mr Levet told The Australian that from a legal point of view, the proposed exchange was “certainly possible”.

“In terms of whether there’s a political appetite for it, I’m probably not the person to ask,” he said.

Boikov entered the Russian consulate in December 2022 after refusing to report to NSW police on two outstanding warrants. One involved an alleged assault on a pro-Ukraine protester.

Mr Vodolatskj, who is chairman of the Union of the Russian Foreign Cossack Forces, said: “Russia will make every effort to resolve this exchange issue and all Russian Cossacks will, of course, support us.

“The time has come when we can exchange the Russian patriot, Ataman Boikov, for this scum who was captured and came to our Orthodox Russian land to hunt civilians.”

Before speaking to The Australian, Mr Boikov said on his Telegram site: “Of course, it’s disgusting that he’s a mercenary, but we need him, we need him for an exchange.”

Boikov is a notoriously active supporter of Putin.

Anthony Albanese on Monday said the Australian embassy in Moscow was trying to figure out the facts about Mr Jenkins’s wellbeing and whereabouts.

“This is concerning news and we’re working through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,” the Prime Minister said in Sydney.

“We know that the Russians often put out information that isn’t right.

“We always look after Australians ... we will make those representations.”

via The Australian

❗️A Pro-Putin activist has thanked the Russian military for capturing an Australian in Ukraine but asked them not to kill the Melbourne teacher so they could do a prisoner swap deal.

Simeon Boikov, who has taken refuge inside the Russian embassy in Sydney for the past two years, posted his crude comment on Telegram about Oscar Jenkins in the hours after his capture.

Footage of Mr Jenkins, 32, being interrogated and slapped by his Russian captor, has been circulating on the social media platform Telegram.

In the video, Mr Jenkins, a former student of Melbourne Grammar, one of Victoria’s most elite schools, said he was a biology teacher who had joined the armed forces because he wanted to help Ukraine.

Boikov, in a video posted to his ‘the @AussieCosack’ Telegram channel, said it was “excellent news’’ the Russian military had captured an “Australian mercenary’’ and volunteered himself to be in a swap for Oscar Jenkins.

“The only way Oscar Jenkins is going to avoid 35 years in a Gulag is if the Australian Government agrees to a prisoner exchange deal and guess what, I’m volunteering my candidacy....’’

“Literally it’s been two years and finally ... I think, I hope, I’m going to make it to Russia. Let’s do a deal Albanese, let’s get your Oscar Jenkins back...

“He went to Melbourne Grammar School, he went to Monash University, he’s from Melbourne, he’s from Victoria, we should bring him home. He shouldn’t have been in Ukraine, but he will not be killed, he will not be tortured, he will be put on to a list of prisoner exchange and Australia we can do this, let’s do this.’’

Boikov, who has had a warrant issued for his arrest over the assault of a man at a rally in support of Ukraine at Sydney’s Town Hall in 2022, said he had been in contact with his lawyer to make an arrangement with the federal government.

Boikov then raised his fist and said: “Glory to the Russian military, thank you very much for doing this and keeping him alive. Keep him alive, don’t kill him, don’t torture him.’’

Via The Herald Sun