An Australian-Russian group has denounced a Moscow propagandist as a “disposable pawn” of the Kremlin after he called on Vladimir Putin’s army to trade him for Australians captured in Ukraine.

But the “Aussie Cossack” holed up in Sydney’s Russian consulate says he is trying to keep Australians from being executed on the battlefield.

Simeon Boikov, known by his online moniker Aussie Cossack, has been hiding out in the consulate since a Sydney court issued an arrest warrant in December. He was on parole for breaching a suppression order and wanted for the alleged assault of a pro-Ukrainian protester when he sought asylum.

Svoboda Alliance, a Russian community group, was disturbed to hear Boikov issue a plea to the commander of the loathed Wagner Group to orchestrate a prisoner swap under which he would be exchanged for a captured Australian.

Boikov said he was seeking to save the lives of the Australians he named in a video and prevent Russian troops from “liquidating them on the spot”.

“They’re in danger not because of me but because of their own choice to fight in Ukraine,” he said.