Assad alleine in Moskau

Was macht eigentlich der syrische Diktator Bashar al-Assad so in Moskau, wo er sich mit zusammengestohlenem Geld im Laufe der Zeit mehrere Villen und Appartments gekauft hat? Offenbar nicht viel. Das zumindest berichtet Ynet. Für den russischen Präsidenten hat Assad keinen Nutzen mehr, er such nämlich längst ein einigermaßen passables Verhältnis zu Syriens neuem Machthaber.

So wird Assad von Außenwelt und Medien abgeschirmt und soll seine Behausungen seit Dezember 2024 kein einziges Mal verlassen haben:

Since fleeing Syria in December 2024, Assad has still not left the apartment complex or the villa, not for shopping malls, not for the cinema, not for walks through Moscow. His three children, Hafez, 25, Zein, 23, and Karim, 22, and his wife Asma have been seen at times in luxury stores in the Russian capital and have also flown to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi for a break. When they returned, they begged to move there permanently, but Abu Dhabi ruler Mohammed bin Zayed rejected their requests outright. (...)

Putin, however, made sure Russian media reported that he had not met Assad and had no intention of inviting the exiled president to the Kremlin, despite Assad’s appeals. He also banned Assad from speaking to Russian, international or Arab media. “Not even a podcast,” he reportedly made clear.
Russian columnists also emphasized Putin’s lack of interest in Assad. “He despises the weak,” writers in Pravda and Izvestia said. “Assad is no longer interesting. He has nothing to offer. He is insignificant. Putin does not even pity him.” 

“Bashar did not flee to Russia because Putin still has plans for him,” says Prof. Eyal Zisser, a Syria expert at Tel Aviv University. “For Putin, the decision to give him asylum was cynical, meant to prove that the Russians never abandon their friends and supporters, and that it is therefore worth cooperating with them. That stands in contrast to the United States, which during the Arab Spring cast aside rulers such as Hosni Mubarak, who had served it loyally for decades. With the Russians, it works differently.” 

That leaves the former president alone in Moscow, entirely dependent on Putin’s goodwill. 

“Bashar has been left with no future and no support in Syria,” Zisser says. “It is amazing to see how, in one moment, the father-and-son regime that ruled the country for 55 years was erased. He may still have a few billion dollars, though Western banks are closed to him and there is no one in the West who will mobilize to help him. The Arab world, too, has accepted the change of power in Syria and generally finds common ground with Ahmad al-Sharaa, the devout Sunni Muslim who replaced Bashar, an Alawite and friend of Shiite Iran.” 

Zisser says the future does not look bright for the exiled dictator.