Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his family have found refuge in Moscow after their hasty escape from the Arab country. Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted asylum to his former ally “based on humanitarian considerations,” as reported this Sunday afternoon by the Russian agencies Ria Novosti and Tass through their sources in the Kremlin. Their interlocutors also assure that the rebels have guaranteed Moscow the security of its bases and diplomatic institutions in the Mediterranean country.
Assad’s whereabouts were unknown after the fall of Damascus this Sunday, after 13 years of war. Speculation about his death aboard a plane during his escape was extinguished when the Russian Foreign Ministry announced, just after noon in Moscow,—two hours less in mainland Spain—that the former Syrian president “decided to leave the presidential office and abandoned the country, giving instructions to carry out the transfer of power peacefully.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry has not offered any further details about the whereabouts of Assad, whose flight ends half a century of family dictatorship with the support of Moscow. His father, Hafez al-Assad, took power in 1971, and Bashar al-Assad received the baton in 2000. Almost a quarter of a century later, the former dictator, who seemed to have the war in his favor, negotiated his departure with the rebels without mediation by Russia, as Moscow stated this Sunday.
“We call on all parties involved to renounce the use of violence and resolve all governance issues through political means,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, a week and a half after the rebels’ surprise offensive began. headed by the fundamentalist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS).
Syria had until now been a strategic enclave for the Kremlin’s projection in the Mediterranean. After the collapse of the Syrian government army, Russia put its port in Tartus province on high alert [construida a cambio del apoyo soviético a Hafez el Asad] and its Khmeimim air base, built in 2015 in the Latakia region in exchange for the war effort offered to Damascus in the current war.
“The Russian Federation is in contact with all Syrian opposition groups,” the Foreign Ministry of the Slavic country emphasized this Sunday in the same statement in which it advocated establishing the “inclusive political process” that the resolution called for. 2254 of the UN Security Council, approved in 2015. At that time, the support of the Russian air forces and the Wagner mercenary group had tilted the battle towards Assad’s side.
The Kremlin has leaked to Russian agencies that there are contacts with the rebels and they have guaranteed the security of Russian military facilities. However, its future is unknown. Ukrainian intelligence declared this Sunday that it had observed the departure of some ships from the port of Tartus. Among them, the frigate Admiral Grigorovich.
Without Assad, for whose head the rebels are offering 10 million dollars, Moscow now seeks not to completely lose its presence in the Arab country. “We hope to continue the political dialogue in pursuit of the interests of the Syrian people and the development of bilateral relations between Russia and Syria,” the same Kremlin sources have stated through their news agencies.
“Russia had no choice but to watch everything fall apart. He could have built his relations with the HTS—and perhaps he did—but “principles” got in the way,” reflects political scientist Tatiana Stanovaya on her Telegram channel. In his opinion, Russia could do little if the Syrian regime “was unable to defend itself.” “Now the main question is how Moscow will integrate into the new reality and how much flexibility it will have in interacting with Syria’s new owners, who are still clearly interested in avoiding a conflict with Moscow. Yeah [Moscú] loses the moment, then it will be more logical to talk about defeat.”
