The Kremlin has denied Turkish media reports suggesting that Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of the ousted Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, is seeking a divorce and hoping to return to London.
Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow earlier this month, the transponder of his aircraft switched off as he left to avoid detection, after a lightning rebel advance brought an end to his family’s 50-year rule.
In a statement attributed to Bashar al-Assad on Telegram, he later insisted his departure from Syria had not been planned but that he had been forced to leave after his position at a Russian-controlled airbase came “under intensified attack by drone strikes”.
His family has long had ties to Moscow, with relatives buying up tens of millions of dollars’ worth of properties in Russia over the years.
On Monday, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, also rejected Turkish media reports suggesting Assad had been confined to Moscow with his property assets frozen. “No, they do not correspond to reality,” Peskov told a conference call.
Russian state media have yet to release any photos of Assad inside the country, hinting that Moscow is eager to keep him out of the headlines as it seeks to forge ties with Syria’s new leadership.
While the Assads’ status as global pariahs had left them with limited travel options, Russia was touted as a strong option as it would probably allow for better medical care for Assad’s wife, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in May.
Born in the UK in 1975 to parents originally from Syria, Asma al-Assad, 49, grew up in Acton, west London. She left her job as an investment banker in 2000 to marry Assad.
She swiftly became a divisive figure around the world, accused of using her British education and upbringing to try to mask the brutality of her husband’s crackdown on dissent.
In 2011, weeks before pro-democracy campaigners began taking to the streets of Syria, Vogue ran a now-removed profile of her titled “A Rose in the Desert”. It described her as “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies”, avoiding any mention of the more than 5,000 civilians already killed by her husband.
In 2020 the US imposed sanctions on the Assads and several of their relatives, with the then secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, describing the measure as an effort to end the regime’s “needless, brutal war” against the Syrian people.
In a statement, Pompeo added: “I will make special note of the designation for the first time of Asma al-Assad, the wife of Bashar al-Assad, who with the support of her husband and members of her Akhras family has become one of Syria’s most notorious war profiteers.”
While her UK assets were frozen in March 2012, she retains British citizenship. Earlier this month the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, made clear she was not welcome. “I’ve seen mentioned in the last few days, Asma Assad [is] potentially someone with UK citizenship that might attempt to come into our country, and I want it confirmed that she’s a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK,” he told parliament.
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, was also asked about whether she would be stripped of her British citizenship, as was done with those known to have joined the Islamic State group. It was “far too early” to discuss such a measure, he said.
With contributions from Reuters
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