Breaking news: One of the names that the world has talked about the most lately is undoubtedly Bashar Assad. The first statement came from Assad, whom all eyes were on, days after the collapse of the 61-year-old Baath regime.
“I DIDN’T THINK OF LEAVING THE COUNTRY”
Assad shared a written statement from Moscow. In his statement, the deposed leader said, “I stayed in Damascus until the morning of December 8. I did not think of leaving the country or resigning until the evening.”
HE EXPLAINED, STEP BY STEP, HOW HE ESCAPED
Describing the process of his escape from Syria to Moscow, Assad said, “My departure from Syria was neither planned nor took place in the last hours of the war, as claimed. When I arrived in Hmeymim, the positions had fallen. When Damascus was entered, I moved to Latakia with Russian coordination.”
“INSTRUCTION CAME FROM MOSCOW”
Assad claimed that he took shelter in the Russian base during the conflicts and was taken away from there upon instructions from Moscow.
Assad stated that Moscow requested the base command in Syria to arrange an urgent evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday, December 8, and said, “This evacuation took place one day after the fall of Damascus, after the collapse of the last military positions and the paralysis of all remaining state institutions as a result.” .” he said
“He smuggled 250 MILLION DOLLARS TO RUSSIA DURING 2 YEARS”
According to AA’s report from the Financial Times (FT) newspaper, it was stated that Assad smuggled approximately 250 million dollars in cash to Russia in 2018 and 2019.
In the news, based on records examined by FT covering the period after 2012, it was stated that Assad sent foreign currency to the capital Moscow to be deposited in sanctioned Russian banks with 21 different flights between March 2018 and September 2019, in the country where there was a foreign exchange shortage due to international sanctions. .
It was reported that banknotes worth approximately 250 million dollars, weighing approximately two tons, were sent to Vnukovo Airport in Moscow during the flights, and it was stated that there was no cash transfer between the central bank of the deposed regime and Russian banks before 2018.