Lavrov said during a meeting with representatives of Arab media: “We granted asylum to Bashar Al-Assad and his family for purely humanitarian reasons. He faces no problems living in our capital, and there have been no poisoning incidents.” The minister added that “under new circumstances, these bases can play a different role, rather than merely being military sites.” Arab media had reported that former president Bashar Al-Assad was subjected to something. It was noted that Assad left a hospital in the suburbs of the Russian capital two days ago, indicating that no one was allowed to visit Assad during his treatment, except for his brother Maher and the former Secretary-General for Presidential Affairs Mansour Azzam. A source in the Kremlin told Sputnik in December: “Russia granted them asylum.”
