There is nothing to say about “handing over Assad to Syria”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the fate of the new Syrian authorities’ demand to extradite former President Bashar al-Assad to Damascus.

On Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, during his meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow, demanded the extradition of his predecessor, who took refuge in Russia after his ouster in December last year.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Peskov refused to comment on whether the two presidents had touched upon the issue of handing over Assad during their negotiations.

He stressed: “There is nothing to say in this context,” according to what was reported by the Russian newspaper “Gazeta.”

Peskov explained that Putin and Shara discussed the fate of the Russian military bases in Hmeimim and Tartous, but he refused to provide more details.

On Wednesday, the First Deputy Chairman of the International Affairs Committee in the Russian Duma, Dmitry Novikov, considered the demand to hand over Assad to the new authorities a “strange matter,” suggesting the possibility of “revenge against him” if Moscow agreed to hand him over.

On the other hand, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow provided shelter for Assad and his family for “purely humanitarian reasons.”

Lavrov said in an interview with reporters last week: “Bashar al-Assad is with us for humanitarian reasons. There were threats to kill him and his family, and for purely humanitarian reasons we provided protection for him and his family.”

Lavrov also denied reports that Assad was poisoned in Moscow.

He explained: “Al-Assad does not face any problems with his stay in our capital. He was not exposed to any poisoning, and if such rumors appear, I leave them on the conscience of those who promote them.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in early October that Assad had been subjected to a poisoning attempt in Moscow.

German press reports also previously spoke about an aspect of the life that Assad lives with his family in Moscow, under the protection of the Kremlin.

The reports stated that Assad’s life “combines extreme luxury and complete isolation,” as he “lives in luxury apartments overlooking skyscrapers, but he has been stripped of any role or influence in Syria’s future.”