Oscar Jenkins: ‘Aussie Cossack’ Simeon Boikov offers himself for prisoner swap for captured Australian teacher

A Russian agent who calls himself the Aussie Cossack and who has been holed up in the Sydney consulate for two years to dodge an arrest warrant has offered himself up in a potential prisoner swap for a Melbourne teacher captured in Ukraine’s Kursk region.

Simeon Boikov, took to social media to gloat about the capture of Melbourne teacher Oscar Jenkins, calling it “excellent news”.

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

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

Vision of Mr Jenkins, 32, shows him bound and being beaten emerged on pro-Russian social media on Sunday.

Australian authorities are urgently working to ascertain the details of his detention and provide support.

Australian-born Mr Boikov has lived in Russia’s Sydney consulate for the past two years, avoiding an arrest warrant for allegedly assaulting a 76-year-old man at a pro-Ukraine rally at Sydney’s Town Hall in 2023.

Earlier this month Ukrainians in Australia called on Foreign Minister Penny Wong to shut down the Sydney consulate housing Mr Boikov following revelations he had paid a viral account on X to spread pro-Trump disinformation during the recent US election.

“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,” a defiant Mr 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.”

Mr Boikov thanked the Russian military for keeping Jenkins alive.

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

Mr Boikov said he had been in contact with his lawyer to attempt to make an arrangement with the federal government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said reports of Mr Jenkins’ capture were “concerning” but that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the embassy in Moscow were trying to “ascertain the details and facts” on the ground.

“We know that the Russians often put out information that isn’t right,” he cautioned.

Mr Albanese stressed that support would be provided.

“We’ll make appropriate representations. We always look after Australians. That’s the job of an Australian government, to make representations for Australian citizens,” he said.