A man has been arrested after crashing a white SUV through the entrance of the Russian consulate in Sydney, leaving a police officer injured.
The incident unfolded on Monday morning when officers approached the parked vehicle in the consulate’s driveway on Fullerton Street in Woollahra, in the city’s eastern suburbs, at around 8.00am local time.
According to the police, the 39-year-old driver suddenly accelerated, smashing through the front gates and coming to a stop on the mission’s lawn. Police said in a statement that the man “allegedly drove his vehicle into the gates of the property” and on to its lawn.
Helicopter footage later showed the car with its windows shattered and doors flung open near a large flagpole.
The driver was arrested and brought to Surry Hills police station for questioning, while the vehicle was removed from the grounds at around 10.00am.
A 24-year-old constable sustained a hand injury during the confrontation and received treatment from paramedics.
Federal police detectives have since taken over the case, and an investigation has been launched.
A video recorded by a nearby resident and shared with 9News captured the intense encounter between police and the man, with officers shouting commands while keeping their firearms trained on him.
The footage includes police repeatedly instructing the driver to “get out of the car”, accompanied by a loud banging noise.
Eyewitnesses reported that officers resorted to using batons to break the glass of both the front driver and passenger windows. Shortly afterward, the officers can be heard shouting commands, including “get on the ground” and “hands behind your back”.
Inside the compound at the time was Simeon Boikov, a pro-Kremlin figure better known online as the “Aussie Cossack”.
Mr Boikov, who has been living at the consulate for nearly three years while evading assault charges, said he was jolted awake by sirens around 8.30am local time.
Initially fearing a fire, he stepped outside to find the SUV lodged on the lawn.
“From my side, it looks like a diplomatic asylum attempt,” he said from inside the consulate, according to the Australian Associated Press.
An unidentified person, who witnessed the ramming, told The Sydney Morning Herald: “I just saw the policemen draw their guns at the gentleman, asking the gentleman to come out of his car.”
Locals were equally startled. Seventy-seven-year-old Russian national Boris Kragen said he had arrived to complete paperwork but found the street sealed off by police.
“I came here to do some paperwork but they [police officers] said it’s closed, so now we wait,” he said on Monday.
James King, who lives opposite the consulate, told the outlet: “It was like watching an American reality show. It really was. We were like ‘This only happens in America, not in Sydney’.”
Another eyewitness told Reuters: “The policemen continued to ask him to get out of the car. He didn’t get out of the car. They drew their firearms. It was quite dramatic on a Monday morning.”
Police have not revealed the identity of the driver.
The Independent has reached out to the Russian consulate in Sydney for further comment.
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