The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of RussiaSergei Ryabkov, confirmed this Tuesday that the deposed president of Syria, Bashar al Assad is in Russian territory after the recent collapse of his Government following the offensive led by rebels and jihadists that has ended more than half a century of family rule.
“President Al Assad is in Russia,” Riabkov said in statements to the American news network NBCNewstherefore becoming the first official figure of the Russian Government to confirm what until now was only known through anonymous leaks to the Russian press.
Asked if Al Assad and his family are in Russia as asylum seekers, Riabkov responded that “it would be very incorrect” for him to comment on the matter, but he stressed that the deposed president “He is safe and that shows that Russia is acting properly in such an extraordinary situation.”
Finally, asked if Russia would arrest and hand over Al Assad in a hypothetical scenario in which the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him, Riabkov responded with a brief but forceful “Russia is not a party to the convention that established the ICC.”
Russia’s main news agencies reported last Sunday that Al Assad and his family were in the capital, Moscow, and had received political asylum after the fall of the regime at the hands of rebels and jihadists. However, until now the presence of the Syrian leader in Russia had not been officially confirmed.
On Sunday, the Russian Government became the first international authority to confirm that Al Assad had abandoned the Syrian capital, Damascus, before the inexorable advance of the rebels and the jihadists, who that morning had taken control of the city.
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