Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s central bank airlifted around $250 million in cash to Russia. The transactions were being conducted in the span of two years when the then-Syrian leader was indebted to the Kremlin for military support, the Financial Times reported. The revelation added a layer to the Syria-Russia ties, especially after Assad and his family chose the country to flee after being ousted by the rebel groups.
Records uncovered by the Financial Times show that Assad’s regime, while desperately short of foreign currency, flew banknotes weighing nearly two tonnes in $100 bills to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.
The currency was deposited at Western-sanctioned banks between 2018 and 2019. With the new information, Russia has become the most important destination for Syria’s cash as Western sanctions pushed it out of the global financial system.
Reaffirms old claims
In the past, opposition figures in Syria and Western governments accused Assad of looting Syria’s wealth and turning to criminal activity to finance the war and his own enrichment. Not only this, the shipments of cash coincided with Syria becoming dependent on the Kremlin’s military support, including from Wagner group mercenaries. Assad’s family have been accused of buying luxury properties in Moscow, sparking concerns.
David Schenker, who was US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2019 to 2021, said that the transfers were not that surprising, given that Assad regularly sent money out of the country for “a combination of securing their ill-gotten gains and Syria’s patrimony abroad”.
“The regime would have to bring their money abroad to a safe haven to be able to use it to procure the fine life… for the regime and its inner circle,” Schenker told The Financial Times. “Russia has been a haven to the Assad regime’s finances for years,” said Eyad Hamid, senior researcher at the Syrian Legal Development Programme, noting that Moscow became a “hub” for evading Western sanctions imposed after Assad came to power.
Content retrieved from: https://www.firstpost.com/world/syrias-assad-dispatched-250-million-cash-to-moscow-in-2-years-to-evade-western-sanctions-report-13844781.html.
