Russia transported Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted as Syria’s president by a lightning rebel offensive, very securely to its territory, the country’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told NBC News in an interview aired on Tuesday.
The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin made the decision to grant asylum to Assad. His fall is a big blow to Iran and Russia, which had intervened in Syria’s 13-year civil war to try to shore up his rule, despite Western demands that he leave power.
“He is secured, and it shows that Russia acts as required in such an extraordinary situation,” Ryabkov said, according to a transcript on NBC’s website. He added that he would not elaborate “on what happened and how it was resolved.”
Asked whether Russia would hand over Assad for trial, Ryabkov said: “Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court.”
He also advised Israel “to seriously consider what is going on in the Golan Heights,” and “not to infringe” on Syrian territory.
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Israel sent troops into a buffer zone with Syria established in the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between the two countries, which concluded the Yom Kippur War.
IDF forces seen entering Syria, in a handout photo issued by the military on December 9, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israel said it would not become involved in the conflict in Syria and that its seizure of the buffer zone, which is Syrian territory, was a defensive move.
Israel also launched a massive bombing campaign in the country, with the IDF saying on Tuesday that it had destroyed most of the former Assad regime’s strategic military capabilities, in an effort to prevent advanced weaponry from falling into the hands of hostile elements.
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Moscow has supported Syria since the early days of the Cold War, recognizing its independence in 1944, as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule. The West saw Syria as a Soviet satellite.
On Tuesday, Syria’s new interim leader announced that he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister, with the backing of the former rebels who toppled Assad.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 24, 2024. (Valery Sharifulin/Pool, via Russian state agency Sputnik/AFP)
Separately, Ryabkov said that Russia would “definitely be prepared to consider” another prisoner swap, similar to the August exchange that involved Wall Street Journal reporter journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan.
A new deal would be “a healthy step forward, especially at the beginning of the next administration,” Ryabkov told NBC, adding he would not want to “pre-empt anything.”