Assad’s Iran- and Russia-allied regime, which has ruled Syria with an iron grip for almost 25 years, brutally curtailed human rights, deploying chemical weapons against civilians within the civil war that has raged in the country since 2011.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, confirmed the news in a post on X.
“Breaking news! Bashar al-Assad and his family in Moscow. Russia does not betray friends in difficult situations,” Ulyanov said.
European leaders welcomed the collapse of the regime that stands accused of presiding over the indiscriminate destruction of civilian areas, the arbitrary detention of innocent people and widespread use of torture inside the regime’s notorious prisons.