“Ataman of the Australian Cossacks” Boykov received Russian citizenship

Russian President Vladimir Putin by his decree granted Russian citizenship to the Australian Semyon Boykov, who calls himself “ataman of the Australian Cossacks”. Boykov has been living in the Consulate General of Russia in Sydney for more than nine months, where he asked for shelter. He had to hide in the consulate after a clash with the enemy of the war in Ukraine.

In December 2022, Boykov, who adheres to the pro-Kremlin position, with a 76-year-old participant in an anti-war rally held in front of Sydney Town Hall. He pushed the elderly Australian so that he fell. An ambulance released him, Boykov was detained by the police, but soon released on bail. After that, he asked for protection at the Russian consulate and applied for citizenship.

• Boykov was born in Australia, his ancestors were Trans-Baikal Cossacks. Previously, he actively opposed vaccination against the coronavirus, spoke out in support of separatists in the Donbass. After the start of the full-scale invasion, he organized pro-Russian actions. Having settled in the consulate, he gives interviews to the Russian mass media and reproaches the Russian-speaking diaspora of Australia and Cossacks abroad for insufficient support for the Kremlin’s policy.