Russia has confirmed it has smuggled President Bashar al-Assad out of Syria after the dictator’s ally revealed more details about his escape.
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, claimed that Assad had been transported to Moscow “in the safest possible way” after the sudden and dramatic collapse of his dictatorship last weekend.
Speak with NBC NewsMr Ryabkov said: “It has been secured and it shows that Russia is acting as required in such an extraordinary situation.”
He said he had “no idea what was going on with him at this point” and added that it would be “very wrong for me to elaborate on what happened and how it was resolved.”
Russia was Assad’s key ally during Syria’s long civil war and they helped maintain his family’s brutal dynasty, which ruled Syria for more than fifty years.
Human rights groups have previously accused Assad of war crimes – such as using chemical weapons against civilians – but Ryabkov ruled out extraditing the leader for trial.
“Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court,” he said.
Putin has also built up a huge military presence in Syria with an air base in Latakia and a naval facility in Tartus – Russia’s only naval hub in the Mediterranean – and an estimated 7,000 troops on the ground this summer.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with Vladimir Putin in 2018. Russia was Assad’s key ally during Syria’s long civil war and they helped maintain his family’s brutal dynasty, which ruled Syria for more than 50 years
Rebel fighters stand with the Syrian flag on the burned grave of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad
Sergei Ryabkov (pictured), Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, claimed that Assad had been transported to Moscow ‘in the safest possible way’ after the sudden and dramatic collapse of his dictatorship last weekend
Assad with his British-born wife Asma and their children in 2022. After the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship this weekend, Assad and his family will now start a new life in Russia
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, told the international press this morning that Russia was in contact with the rebels through its military bases.
He said: “We are, of course, maintaining contacts with those who are currently in control of the situation in Syria,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
“This is necessary because our bases are located there, our diplomatic mission is located there and of course the issue of ensuring the security of these facilities is extremely important and of primary importance.”
After the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship last weekend, Assad and his family will now start a new life in Russia.
They will likely rely on their family ties and extensive assets in Moscow in the hope of continuing their comfortable lifestyle in exile.
The Syrian dictator’s extended family has bought up at least 20 Moscow apartments worth more than £30 million in recent years, illustrating Russia’s status as a safe haven for the clan.
This included the purchase of at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district.
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.
Putin hugs Assad during a meeting in 2017. Russia has built up a huge military presence in Syria with an air base in Latakia and a naval facility in Tartus – the only Russian naval hub in the Mediterranean
Rebel fighters set fire to Hafez al-Assad’s grave. For the first time in sixty years, Syrians are looking to a future without the Assad family
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
Meanwhile, the citizens of Syria are trying to rebuild their nation after thirteen years of war and – for the first time in six decades – are looking to a future without the autocratic rule of the Assad family.
Beyond the thousands of Syrians taking to the streets to celebrate, the true horrors of the Assad regime are only just coming to light.
Many have traveled to the infamous Sednaya prison near Damascus, nicknamed the “human slaughterhouse,” in the hope of finding long-lost relatives.
The prison was the epicenter of this systematic terror, where large numbers of prisoners were subjected to all kinds of inhumane treatment and executed.
Dark images and footage released this week showed shocked rescuers pulling dozens and dozens of body bags containing rotting corpses from the depths of the facility.
But there are dozens of other facilities across the country where the victims of the Assad regime were made to suffer and die.
As survivors of these hellish prisons emerge to reunite with their families and give chilling testimonies of life behind bars, those deemed responsible for orchestrating the horrors may soon face their comeuppance .
The leader of the Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which played a leading role in the lightning offensive that ousted Assad, has vowed to hunt down officials, security forces and army officers who have “tortured” the Syrian people.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on Sunday, December 8, 2024
An aerial view of the Sednaya military prison after armed groups opposing the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad took control of Damascus. The prison was the epicenter of this systematic terror, where large numbers of prisoners were subjected to all kinds of inhumane treatment and executed.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has vowed to rebuild Syria and HTS has spent years trying to soften its image to appease foreign nations and minority groups.
But he openly stated that he would hold accountable those involved in “war crimes” against Syrians.
The Assad regime’s detention centers in Syria represented one of the most depraved systems of institutionalized torture in modern history.
The prison system under Assad was not merely punitive; it was a calculated mechanism to suppress dissent and terrorize the population.
No one was safe from Assad’s maniacal security forces.
Rebel fighters were thrown into prisons along with intellectuals, activists and ordinary citizens – all subjected to horrific treatment, in many cases for decades.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights claims that more than 157,000 people remain arrested or forcibly disappeared since the start of the Syrian revolution in March 2011 – including 5,274 children and 10,221 women.
It is said that more than 15,000 people died under torture during that time.