RUSSIA DENIES MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT BASHAR AL-ASSAD’S WIFE SEEKING DIVORCE

Tue 24 December 2024:

The Kremlin on Monday denied media reports that the British-born wife of ousted Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad is seeking divorce and planning to leave Russia.

“No, they do not correspond to reality,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the Russian capital of Moscow in response to a question on the matter.

On Sunday, multiple media reports said that Asma al-Assad, who was born in the UK, wanted to file for divorce in Russia, where the couple has been granted asylum by President Vladimir Putin after anti-regime forces took control of the Syrian capital of Damascus on Dec. 8.

According to reports, Asma al-Assad has expressed “discontent” with her life in Moscow and intends to relocate to London.

Assad, who was Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus, ending the 61-year Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963.

His family has long had ties to Moscow, with relatives buying up tens of millions of dollars’ worth of properties in Russia over the years.

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On Monday, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, also rejected Turkish media reports suggesting Assad had been confined to Moscow with his property assets frozen. “No, they do not correspond to reality,” Peskov told a conference call.

Russian state media have yet to release any photos of Assad inside the country, hinting that Moscow is eager to keep him out of the headlines as it seeks to forge ties with Syria’s new leadership.

While the Assads’ status as global pariahs had left them with limited travel options, Russia was touted as a strong option as it would probably allow for better medical care for Assad’s wife, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in May.

Born in the UK in 1975 to parents originally from Syria, Asma al-Assad, 49, grew up in Acton, west London. She left her job as an investment banker in 2000 to marry Assad.

She swiftly became a divisive figure around the world, accused of using her British education and upbringing to try to mask the brutality of her husband’s crackdown on dissent.

In 2011, weeks before pro-democracy campaigners began taking to the streets of Syria, Vogue ran a now-removed profile of her titled “A Rose in the Desert”. It described her as “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies”, avoiding any mention of the more than 5,000 civilians already killed by her husband.

While her UK assets were frozen in March 2012, she retains British citizenship. Earlier this month the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, made clear she was not welcome. “I’ve seen mentioned in the last few days, Asma Assad [is] potentially someone with UK citizenship that might attempt to come into our country, and I want it confirmed that she’s a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK,” he told parliament.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, was also asked about whether she would be stripped of her British citizenship, as was done with those known to have joined the Islamic State group. It was “far too early” to discuss such a measure, he said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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