Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in Russia, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister confirmed in an interview with NBC broadcast on Tuesday, December 10. “President Assad is in Russia” Sergei Ryabkov told the American channel.
Russian news agencies announced Sunday, citing a Kremlin source, that Bashar al-Assad, Russia's ally, and his family were in Moscow, after leaving Syria following the lightning offensive by groups rebels led by radical Islamists, entered Damascus during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
“Bashar al-Assad is safe”
The Russian presidency, however, refused on Monday to confirm the presence on its soil of the deposed leader. Russia has intervened militarily since 2015 in support of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where the war began in 2011 with the brutal repression of pro-democracy demonstrations.
“In such a situation, it would not be right at all for me to detail what happened and how it happened but (Mr. Assad) is safe“, explained Sergei Ryabkov. “This shows that Russia is acting as it should in such an extraordinary situation“, he added.
Asked whether Moscow would hand over Mr. Assad for trial at the request of the Syrian people or the International Criminal Court, the Russian official replied that Russia “was not a party to the treaty that established the ICC“.
