Moscow has confirmed that it has granted ousted President Bashar al-Assad asylum in , saying that the decision was taken by the president and that he has nothing more to say. “Such decisions cannot be taken without the head of state. It was his decision,” said Dmitry Peskov, as reported by the state news agency TASS. Answering then, to a question about a possible meeting of the Russian president with his now former Syrian counterpart, Peskov stated that such a thing is not currently foreseen in the Kremlin’s official planning.
Agence France-Presse notes that the presidency’s spokesman refused to confirm Assad’s presence in Russia, saying “I have nothing to tell you about the whereabouts of President Assad.”
Russian news agencies reported last night, citing a Kremlin source, that , as Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds after they left Syria following a sudden attack by jihadist-led rebel groups.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s envoy to international organizations in Vienna, later confirmed the reports.
Breaking! and his family are in Moscow. Russia does not betray its friends in difficult situations. This is the difference between and the .
— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov)
According to the announcement of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Syrian president resigned and left the country, handing over instructions for a peaceful transition of power. However, Moscow emphasized that it was not involved in this decision by Assad.
The future of Russian relations
It is noted that Russia has requested for today Monday one for Syria, behind closed doors. “The depth and implications of the recent developments in Syria are not yet understood,” Dmitry Polanski, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, wrote on Telegram.
According to Mr. Peskov, “the whole world was surprised by what happened” in Syria. “We are not an exception,” he emphasized.
Russia, which has intervened militarily in Syria since 2015 in support of Bashar al-Assad, is expecting a “very difficult period, linked to instability” in that country, according to Mr. Peskov. In this context, “it is very important to maintain a dialogue with all the countries” of the region, he added, assuring that Russia has a “strong intention to do so”.
More broadly, Peskov said the Kremlin sees a situation of international turmoil with a high prospect of conflict: “We see the situation around Ukraine, we see a lot of contradictory statements in this area, we see an increasing prospect of conflict in other regions, we can say that the Middle East is on fire.”
The Kremlin spokesman, meanwhile, said the future of Russia’s Khmeimim airbase in Lattakia province and the Tartous naval facility on the coast would be discussed with Syria’s new rulers. At the same time, the Interfax agency broadcast a statement by a senior Russian parliamentarian, according to which the security of Russian military bases in Syria is fully guaranteed. He also warned that Moscow would respond harshly if its bases in Syria were attacked.
Answering a question about the future of the bases, Dmitry Peskov said that “it is still premature to talk about it” and added: “Of course, everything that is needed now and everything that is possible is being done in order to get in touch with those who they can deal with security. And, of course, our military is also taking all the necessary measures.”
The facility in Tartus is Russia’s only repair and supply hub in the Mediterranean, and Moscow has used Syria as a staging post for its military’s external partners to and from Africa.
The rebel flag at the Syrian embassy in Moscow
At the Syrian embassy in Moscow, however, the flag of the Syrian opposition was raised today, as stated by an AFP journalist who was at the scene. A group of men raised the flag with the three red stars, he pointed out, information that was confirmed by an eyewitness to Reuters. “The embassy is open and operating normally under the new flag,” an embassy source told Russian state news agency TASS. This symbolic action was taken after, according to Russian state media, which cited a source in the Kremlin, the Syrian president and his family sought refuge in Moscow.
On November 27, Syrian armed opposition units launched a large-scale attack on government forces’ positions in Aleppo and Idlib provinces. By the evening of December 7, opponents of the now-ousted president had captured several major cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus and the army withdrew from the Syrian capital.
