Ousted President Basher Al-Assad: Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad has airlifted cash worth about $250 million (about Rs 2,082 crore) to Moscow, the capital of Russia. These transactions were done between the years 2018 and 2019. Which included about two tonnes of 100 dollar notes and 500 euro currency notes.
According to a report in the Financial Times, these bank notes were sent to Vnukovo Airport in Moscow and from there were deposited in Russian banks, which were facing international sanctions. The report also states that Assad’s relatives were secretly buying properties in Russia during the same period.
How to take steps to circumvent western sanctions
The Financial Times said that these transactions illustrate the extent to which the Assad regime has taken steps to circumvent Western sanctions, due to which it was shut out of the financial system.
At the same time, after 11 days of rebel attacks by Islamic rebels (HTS), Assad escaped from Syria on December 8 (Sunday) and is currently in Moscow, the capital of Russia. The civil war that has been going on in Syria since 2011 has so far taken the lives of more than 500,000 people and displaced more than half the country’s population.
Opposition leaders accused the Assad regime
Many opposition leaders have also accused Assad’s regime of plundering Syria’s wealth and resorting to criminal activities to finance the war.
Russia remained a safe haven for the Assad regime
Former US Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker told the Financial Times that these transfers of the Assad regime were not surprising. “The Assad regime needed to send its money abroad so it could use it to live a happy life for itself and its close circle,” he said.
Eyad Hamed, a senior researcher at the Syrian Legal Development Programme, said Russia has been a safe haven for the Assad regime for years. Russia supported the Assad regime for many years, but the relationship strengthened when Russian companies became involved in Syria’s phosphate supply chain.
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