The Kremlin has dismissed rumors that the British-born wife of deposed Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad has filed for divorce in Russia, amid unconfirmed reports that she hopes to move back to Britain.
Asma al-Assad, 49, is currently exiled to Moscow with her husband and three children after they were granted asylum by Vladimir Putin when rebels took control of Damascus in a lightning advance on December 8.
The former first lady, who left a life of luxury behind her, is said to be dissatisfied with her new life under the surveillance of Putin’s regime and reportedly wants to return to London, where she was born.
She has applied to a Russian court for permission to leave Russia for Britain, including multiple media outlets The Jerusalem Post reported, each citing Turkish and Arab media.
Her application is currently under review by Russian authorities, according to the accounts circulated on Sunday evening.
They suggested that the toppled dictator and his family are under “severe restrictions” in Moscow, with Assad reportedly banned from leaving the city or engaging in political activities.
Assad’s wider family is believed to own dozens of apartments in the Russian capital. He reportedly moved around 270 kilos of gold and £1.6 billion to Moscow with him when he fled Syria.
But his assets and money in the country are now reportedly frozen, according to unconfirmed reports.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed these claims this morning, denying that the former president, a longtime ally of Putin, had been confined to Moscow.
When asked during a conference call whether the reports corresponded to reality, Peskov said: “No, they do not correspond to reality.”
There has been no comment so far on the divorce reports from Russian authorities, nor from al-Assad or his wife.
Asma al-Assad, 49, is currently exiled to Moscow with the toppled dictator after leaving their luxurious lives in Syria
Bashar and Asma Al-Assad are pictured meeting with Vladimir Putin in 2005
The Assads, their daughter, daughter Zein and son Karim will now all be in Russia with Hafez
Assad’s extended family has reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured), located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district
Asma, 49, was born in London and raised in Acton by Syrian parents. She moved to Syria in 2000 and married the dictator at the age of 25.
The family was offered safe haven by Vladimir Putin, who expelled the deposed president from Syria on December 8, shortly before his country fell to rebels.
Asma and the couple’s three children were already in Russia, where reports say they have been undergoing treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive form of blood and bone marrow cancer.
One version is that she would prefer to be treated in Britain.
In Moscow, the Assad clan is linked to luxury properties in both the 300-meter-high City of Capitals complex and the nearby 1,200-meter-high Federation Tower.
His extended family owns dozens of properties here and elsewhere in Moscow, but the family is now believed to be staying in official Russian government accommodation.
The Assad family has strong personal ties to the Russian capital, with the ousted president’s eldest son a PhD student at Moscow State University.
Hafez al-Assad, in his twenties, defended his dissertation at MSU and became a candidate for natural and mathematical sciences, Russian media reported.
The defense reportedly took place on November 29 – a week before his father’s fall and during Syrian rebels’ offensive on Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo.
Ms. Assad previously attended her son’s graduation ceremony in June 2023, with photos showing her hugging him in front of MSU’s main building and meeting with university officials.
Hafez al-Assad’s work is written in Russian and consists of 98 pages. It is devoted to analytic and algebraic number theory, especially issues of polynomials.
At the end of his thesis, Al-Assad expressed his gratitude “to the martyrs of his homeland – Syria – and first of all to the martyrs of the Syrian Arab army.”
He also expressed his gratitude to his parents, Bashar and Asma, to the rector of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichy, to the university staff, and to teachers and lecturers from Syria.
The US State Department estimates the family is worth $2 billion, with their wealth hidden in countless accounts, shell companies, offshore tax havens and real estate portfolios.
The Syrian dictator’s extended family has bought at least 20 apartments in Moscow worth more than £30 million in recent years.
In 2012, Wikileaks made public Asma Al-Assad’s private correspondence, revealing that she had spent $350,000 on furnishing the palace and $7,000 on crystal-encrusted shoes.
To keep tens of millions of dollars out of Syria as the country’s civil war raged, the family reportedly bought at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured).
The twin-tower skyscraper is home to some of Russia’s richest businessmen, ministries, five-star hotels and multinational corporations
Assad’s relatives, the Makhloufs, led by his uncle Mohammed Makhlouf, have long been considered Syria’s second richest and most important family after his own, with significant assets in Russia.
To keep tens of millions of dollars out of Syria as the country’s civil war raged, the family bought at least eighteen luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district. FT.
The twin-tower skyscraper – which was Europe’s tallest building until the unveiling of London’s Shard in 2012 – is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, ministries, five-star hotels and multinationals.