FT: Assad regime delivered two tons of dollars in cash to Russia in two years

Bashar Assadʼs central bank transferred about $250 million in cash to Moscow during 2018-2019.

This is reported by the Financial Times (FT).

FT journalists discovered records indicating that the Assad regime, experiencing an acute shortage of foreign currency, brought almost two tons of cash in $100 and €500 bills to Moscowʼs Vnukovo airport in 2018-2019.

The removed assets were later placed in Russian banks Russian Financial Corporation and CMRbank, both of which are now under the US sanctions.

During this time, 21 flights were made, with over $250 million transported on board the planes. In Syria itself, during this period, according to the source, there was an acute shortage of foreign currency — reserves were "almost zero."

FT sources say that sanctions have forced the Syrian bank to make cash payments, which Syria has used to buy wheat from Russia, pay for money printing services and “defense” expenses.

The overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria

Active clashes between rebels and Syrian troops have been ongoing in Syria since November 27. The offensive was launched by the Syrian Revolutionary Forces in "response to months of continuous attacks on civilians" by the Assad regime in Aleppo province.

Already on December 1, the media reported that Assadʼs forces had lost control of Aleppo, for the first time since the beginning of the military conflict, which began more than ten years ago, and later also of the city of Hama, the fifth largest in the country.

On December 8, the Syrian opposition entered the Syrian capital — Damascus — and declared that it had overthrown the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Russian propagandists say that Assad has fled to Moscow.

Syrian rebels have already begun forming a transitional government — it will be headed by Muhammad Bashir, who headed the "Salvation Government" — a political structure created in 2017 in territories controlled by the Syrian opposition, primarily in the province of Idlib.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Bashar al-Assad had left the post of President of Syria and left the country, adding that he had given instructions to transfer power peacefully and had previously held talks with the parties to the conflict. Assad is now in Russia with his family and has been granted political asylum.

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