Russia has confirmed it smuggled President Bashar al-Assad out of Syria after the dictator’s ally revealed more details of his escape.
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, claimed that Assad was transported to Moscow ‘in the safest way possible’ following the sudden and dramatic collapse of his dictatorship over the weekend.
Speaking to NBC News, Mr Ryabkov said: ‘He is secured, and it shows that Russia acts as required in such an extraordinary situation.’
He said that he had ‘no idea what going on with him right now’ adding 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 had governed Syria for over 50 years.
Human rights groups have previously accused Assad of war crimes – such as using chemical weapons on civilian – but Mr Ryabkov ruled out handing the leader over for trial.
‘Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court,’ he said.
Putin has also built up a massive military presence in Syria with an air base in Latakia and a naval facility in Tartus – which is Russia’s only Mediterranean naval hub -and an estimated 7,000 military personal on the ground as recently as 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 had governed Syria for over 50 years
Rebel fighters stand with the Syrian flag on the burnt gravesite of Syria’s late president Hafez al-Assad
Sergei Ryabkov (pictured), Russia’s deputy foreign minister, claimed that Assad was transported to Moscow ‘in the safest way possible’ following the sudden and dramatic collapse of his dictatorship over the weekend
Assad with his British-born wife Asma and their children in 2022. Following the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship over the 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 over its military bases.
He said: ‘We, of course, maintain contacts with those who are currently controlling 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 related to ensuring the security of these facilities is extremely important and of primary significance.’
Following the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship over the weekend, Assad and his family will now start a new life in Russia.
They are likely to draw on their family connections and extensive assets in Moscow in the hope of keeping up their comfortable lifestyle in exile.
The Syrian dictator’s extended family 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 two-towered skyscraper – which until the unveiling of London’s Shard in 2012 was Europe’s tallest building – is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, government ministries, five-star hotels and multinational companies.
Putin embraces Assad during a meeting in 2017. Russia has built up a massive military presence in Syria with an air base in Latakia and a naval facility in Tartus – which is Russia’s only Mediterranean naval hub
Rebel fighters set fire to the gravesite of Hafez al-Assad. Syrians for the first time in six decades look to a future without the Assad family
Assad’s extended family reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured), located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district
Meanwhile, in Syria its citizen look to rebuild their nation after 13 years of war and – for the first time in six decades – they look to a future without the Assad family’s autocratic rule.
Away from the thousands of Syrians taking to the street to celebrate, the true horrors of the Assad regime are only just being uncovered.
Many have travelled into the infamous Sednaya Prison near Damascus, nicknamed the ‘Human Slaughterhouse’ in hopes of finding long-lost family members.
The prison was the epicentre of this systematic terror where huge numbers of detainees were subjected to all manner of inhumane treatments and executed.
Dark footage and images published this week showed how horrified rescuers pulled out dozens upon dozens of body bags containing rotting corpses from the depths of the facility.
But there are dozens more facilities across the nation where victims of the Assad regime were left to suffer and die.
Now, as survivors of these hellhole jails emerge to reunite with their families and give chilling testimonies about life behind bars, those deemed responsible for orchestrating the horrors may soon face their comeuppance.
The leader of Syria’s rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that played a leading role in the lightning offensive that ousted Assad has vowed to hunt down officials, security forces and army officers who ‘tortured’ the Syrian people.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024
An aerial view of the Sednaya Military Prison after armed groups, opposing Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime take control in Damascus. The prison was the epicentre of this systematic terror where huge numbers of detainees were subjected to all manner of inhumane treatments 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 reassure foreign nations and minority groups.
But he openly declared he would hold accountable those found to have been involved in ‘war crimes’ against Syrians.
The Assad regime’s detention centres in Syria represented one of the most depraved systems of institutionalised torture in modern history.
The prison system under Assad was not merely punitive; it was a calculated mechanism to crush dissent and terrorise populations.
No one was safe from Assad’s maniacal security forces.
Rebel fighters were cast into jails along with intellectuals, activists and regular civilians – all were subjected to heinous treatment, in many cases for several decades.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights claims that since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, over 157,000 people remain under arrest or have been forcibly disappeared – including 5,274 children and 10,221 women.
More than 15,000 are said to have died under torture in that time.
