Ousted President Basher Al-Assad: Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad has airlifted money worth about $250 million (about Rs 2,082 crore) to Moscow, the capital of Russia. These transactions have been achieved between the years 2018 and 2019. Which included about two tonnes of 100 greenback notes and 500 euro foreign money notes.
According to a report within the Financial Times, these financial institution notes have been sent to Vnukovo Airport in Moscow and from there have been deposited in Russian banks, which have been facing worldwide sanctions. The report additionally states that Assad’s family have been secretly shopping for properties in Russia throughout the identical interval.
How to take steps to circumvent western sanctions
The Financial Times mentioned 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 monetary system.
At the identical time, after 11 days of insurgent assaults by Islamic rebels (HTS), Assad escaped from Syria on December 8 (Sunday) and is at the moment in Moscow, the capital of Russia. The civil warfare that has been happening in Syria since 2011 has up to now taken the lives of greater than 500,000 individuals and displaced greater than half the nation’s inhabitants.
Opposition leaders accused the Assad regime
Many opposition leaders have additionally accused Assad’s regime of plundering Syria’s wealth and resorting to legal actions to finance the warfare.
Russia remained a secure haven for the Assad regime
Former US Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker instructed the Financial Times that these transfers of the Assad regime weren’t a shock. “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 mentioned.
Eyad Hamed, a senior researcher on the Syrian Legal Development Programme, mentioned Russia has been a secure haven for the Assad regime for years. Russia supported the Assad regime for a few years, however the relationship strengthened when Russian corporations turned concerned in Syria’s phosphate provide chain.
Also learn: Syria shaken by Israeli assault! After 12 years, such an air strike prompted a robust earthquake
