Ryabkov: Assad is in Russia; We will not hand him over
reported by Mehr News Agency quoted by NBC News, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says that this country has transferred him to Moscow in the safest way possible after the sudden collapse of the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Ryabkov is the first Russian official to officially confirm Assad’s presence in Russia in a conversation with a foreign media. He said: “He is safe and this shows that Russia is acting competently and appropriately in extraordinary circumstances.”
The senior Russian diplomat added: I have no idea about what he is in right now. It is not right at all to try to clarify how to transfer Assad.
Ryabkov further emphasized that Russia will continue to support the former president of Syria. In response to the question whether Russia will hand over Assad if requested by the International Criminal Court, he said: Russia is not a member of the convention on which the International Criminal Court was established.
Syria has not joined this court based in The Hague. In 2014, Russia and China also blocked the application of its judicial decisions in their territory. America and the Zionist regime do not recognize the jurisdiction of this court. In March 2023, this court ordered the arrest of Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, on charges of war crimes!
