Russia spirited Assad out of Syria in ‘secure manner,’ Moscow’s deputy FM reveals
Speaking to NBC News, Sergei Ryabkov says Russia acted as required ‘in such an extraordinary situation,’ indicates Syrian strongman won’t be handed to ICC for trial
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.
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.
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.
The Kremlin on Wednesday played down the damage to Russian influence in the Middle East from the fall of Assad’s regime, saying that its focus was Ukraine and that Moscow was in contact with the new rulers of Syria.
When Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War in 2015, it helped tip the balance in Assad’s favor, so his fall from power dealt a serious setback to both Russia, which is fighting a major land war in Ukraine, and to Iran, which is battling US-backed Israel across the Middle East.
“You know, of course, that we are in contact with those who are currently in control of the situation in Syria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Asked how much the fall of Assad had weakened Russia’s influence in the region, Peskov said that Moscow maintained contacts with all countries in the region and would continue to do so.
Moscow’s priority, Peskov said, was the war in Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation.” Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
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.
Separately, Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, said his country 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.”
