Syria’s ruler Ahmad Al Shara has demanded at a meeting in Damascus that Russia hand over former president Bashar Al Assad and an estimated $2 billion in liquid assets held by the exiled dictator's family in Russian banks, sources told The National.
The meeting with a Russian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov also focused on other thorny issues but reached no agreement beyond maintaining contact, the sources said.
“Handing over Assad and all senior officers who escaped to Russia was the top of the list," said a member of the new political staff at Syria's former presidential palace in the capital, where the meeting took place. It was the first high-level, face-to-face contact since the fall of the Assad regime and Mr Al Assad fled to Moscow on December 8.
The nature of relations with Moscow could affect the power consolidation set under way by Mr Al Shara's Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS). The rebel group led the overthrow of the Assad regime and is striving to build international ties to legitimise its rule. It also wants financial flows for recovery from Syria's civil war.
Mr Al Shara demanded repatriation of an estimated $2 billion in liquid assets held by the Al Assad family in Russian banks, the source said. Mr Bogdanov did not reply but “reserved the right to respond” to the two demands.
Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war saved Mr Al Assad from defeat in 2015. However, by the time HTS-led troops swept through northern Syria towards Damascus last month, a similar rescue had become impossible, or too costly. Now Russia's two military bases on the Syrian coast, its main warm-water outposts, are in a country where President Vladimir Putin's government no longer holds sway.
Another Syrian source briefed on the meeting said Mr Al Shara had made it clear that Russia “bears the main responsibility for the tragedies that have befallen the Syrian people” since a 2011 pro-democracy revolt.
Surrendering Mr Al Assad “would go a long way towards building up ties” with the new order in Damascus, the Russian delegation was told, the source said.
HTS troops have launched a military campaign to subdue members of the former regime. In the east, Turkish-backed militias allied with HTS mounted an offensive against a Kurdish-led militia that controls Syria's north-east soon after Mr Al Assad fled to Moscow.
Mr Bogdanov “did not admit any of Russia's past mistakes”, but Mr Al Shara made it clear there will not be any immediate moves against Russian military interests, the sources said.
Russian news agency Tass reported that the two sides had agreed to continue discussions on how to maintain the Russian bases. “We expressed hope that this policy will continue and that our interests in Syria will not be affected,” it quoted Mr Bogdanov as saying.
