"The Australian Government is stuck in the colonial mentality," Simeon Boikov, also known as the Aussie Сossack, told Sputnik. "Australia was a colony of the British and now Australia remains to be a colony because it doesn't have the capability to defend itself, at all. Now Australia of course has a fear and the justification is, just as in 1942, at the Battle of the Coral Sea, when the Americans saved the Australians from an impending Japanese invasion."
"Australia justifies its involvement in every single American war as a matter of self-preservation. So, there was no good reason why Australia went to fight against Korea or Vietnam, or Iraq, or Afghanistan. But Australia follows the Americans into all of these conflicts. And just as they then regret that, every single time they do this, they regret it. And the Australian general public strongly opposes this type of involvement of Australian troops in foreign wars. The same situation is occurring now," he emphasized.
Boikov is currently staying at the Russian consulate, because he has been subjected to nothing short of persecution by the Australian government for his stance on the conflict in Ukraine.
Do All Australians Support Arming Ukraine?
Since the onset of the conflict, the US and its NATO allies have doubled down on sending lethal arms to the Kiev regime in a bid to bleed Russia dry. Canberra quickly jumped on Washington's bandwagon and announced that it would supply modern weapons, including the Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle, to Ukraine in April 2022, at a time when the US and its NATO allies torpedoed the Russo-Ukrainian preliminary peace agreement struck in Istanbul a month earlier.
According to Boikov, millions of Aussies do not support the ongoing militarization of Ukraine, with some having openly taken the pro-Russian side. So does the Aussie Сossack, and for good reason: his great grandfathers were born in the Russian Empire in 1915-1916 in Zabaikalsky Kray, and he has always felt his deep connection with Russia's history, culture and the Orthodox faith.
Simeon took to heart the slaughter of Russian-speakers in Donbass, which has been transpiring since 2014, as well as the Kiev regime's crackdown against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
"We've done a lot of work," he said. "And these rallies that we've been having from the very beginning of the special operation… our first rally was just a few days after the operation began, in front of the Russian consulate. We had a pro-Russian rally in support of Russia with Russian flags, portrait of Vladimir Putin. And of course, the rallies have grown since then, since the beginning of the conflict, since the beginning of the operation. Now our rallies are attracting thousands and thousands of Australians from all around the country who march carrying Russian flags, they wear 'Z' T-shirts, and they support Russia."
What Drove Boikov to Seek Asylum in the Russian Consulate?
Very soon, Boikov found himself in the crosshairs of the Australian authorities. He was smeared in the national mainstream press as a "pro-Putin pest" and "Russian agent".
"Every time the police would stop me and pull me over, and they stopped me about 50-60 times altogether, I would just start livestreaming on YouTube. Every single police interaction," Boikov recalled.
"The police, by stopping me and harassing me, they actually created more attention and hype around the cause, which we were fighting for. So that was a tactic that completely backfired on the police. Then last year, in 2022, in May, they arrested me at a rally for something I said on YouTube where I broke a suppression on a publication order. Just simply for speaking out and breaking a publication order, they gave me ten months jail in maximum security. And this is just before the elections, where I was registered as a candidate to run in the elections."
However, he was arrested and thrown into prison for an offense which a fine is usually stipulated, Boikov said. His legal team managed to appeal the harsh sentence and won the legal battle. Simeon was released after four months serving in jail.
At the time, Simeon got sad news that his longtime friend, a Russian priest Father Michael Vasiliev was killed during a Ukrainian missile strike in November 2022. The Aussie Cossack decided to go to Russia, he bought tickets and a visa. However, prior to his departure in December 2022 he was confronted by a group of Ukrainian nationalists who were "holding Right Sector* flags and Ukrainian flags and screaming obscenities against Russia," according to Simeon.
"I was wearing a Russian jacket with a Russian double-headed eagle on it," he said. "So I was grabbed. I was attacked. I pushed the assailant away. And of course, this Ukrainian who attacked me, he fell backwards (…) on the floor (…). The police arrived and decided to charge me. They didn't charge the Ukrainians. They took me and confiscated my passport and my phone, but then released me. So they released me. I couldn't fly out. And the next day they put out a warrant to arrest me again. And I said, that's enough. I'm not going to go to jail because I have to be doing a job and that job is to broadcast."
So, he decided to seek asylum at the nearest Russian consulate.
"I managed to make it into the consulate and the Russian government accepted my application for a diplomatic asylum. And that's now been almost eight months, or more than eight months, since I've been here. Since December 14 I've been inside the consulate," Simeon said. "Here inside the consulate, I'm able to broadcast. I work for a radio. (…) By living in the Russian consulate, I have full freedom."
How US is Pushing Australia Into Proxy War Against Russia, China
Canberra's support of the Kiev regime is done according to the same playbook which it previously used to participate in the US invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea and Vietnam, Boikov pointed out. However, Australia's military donations to Ukraine cannot change the course of NATO's proxy war in Ukraine, he said. According to him, the Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles is delusional when he declares that Australian Bushmasters are changing the situation on the ground.
"The Australian, in fact, government and defense quietly, behind closed doors, are opposed to this and might be opposed to this, but the problem is the decision is made, I would say, not in Canberra but in Washington," the Aussie Cossack said.
"And Australia just needs to play ball and their contributions are minuscule in a way they're not so serious and strong. Only $880 million so far has been provided in military aid and humanitarian aid and cash. But for Australia that's a lot of money and Australia doesn't have a large military. So we've had great success in Australia in running a campaign for Australian neutrality against the proposals of the Albanese government, against supplying weapons to Ukraine. And Australian public opinion has heavily changed, heavily turned against Zelensky and against the Albanese government who continue to drag Australia into World War Three," he continued.
Much in the same vein, the US is trying to push Australia into a confrontation with China in the Asia-Pacific region.
"So what we say is these are world powers which drag Australia into alliances such as AUKUS, such as the Quad. Now there's talk of Australia being part of NATO," Boikov noted.
Canberra's Strategy Runs Opposite Australia's National Interests
The Aussie Cossack noted the Australian government's kowtowing to the US and NATO clearly contradicts national interests. Boikov insists that Australia should be neutral and maintain friendly and mutually beneficial relations with Russia, which could ensure Canberra's genuine political independence and diplomatic diversity.
*The Right Sector is an extremist organization banned in Russia.