Testives for assassination, video games and luxurious houses: the secret life of the “silent butcher” housed by Vladimir Putin in Moscow

It was said that it was the target of two attempts to poison, but that it is in good condition. The close ones say he lives in Moscow, under the FSB guard, thanks to Vladimir Putin, his host and the custodians of his regime. The life of Bashar al-Assad is enveloped in mystery, writes the German publication Die Zeit.

Former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad now lives in a skyscraper in Moskva City, a futuristic business neighborhood in the Russian capital, where his extended family occupies 20 luxurious apartments.

Since the overthrow of his regime and the dramatic escape from the country on December 8, 2024, the “silent butcher”, as the German publication calls it, who tried to take its traces in Russia, seems to have disappeared without trace.

Case in Moscow thanks to his friend Vladimir Putin, Assad is guarded by FSB. And yet, last days, for the second time this year, the news that Assad was poisoned, but that his condition is “stable” was spread.

The Russian state press kept silence, only war bloggers reported the rumor. And the Russian press in exile later asked if the attack was really directed against Assad or FSB, which was thus put in an embarrassing situation.

For almost a quarter of a century, Bashar al-Assad ordered an army of torturers and abusers of children, writes Die Zeit.

When the Syrians rose against the dictator in the Arab spring of 2011, he destroyed the country in a bloody civil war, leaving more than half a million dead to stay in power. He is accused of war crimes, including the use of chemical attack against the population.

Meanwhile, investigators and lawyers are following the fallen dictator. On September 27, the Syrian Ministry of Justice announced the issuance of an arrest warrant.

Accusations include premeditated murder, torture and incitement to civil war. According to a Syrian news agency, the arrest warrant offers a precise description of the sought -after man: 1.89 meters high, oval face, prominent forehead, long nose. The color of the eyes: blue. Hair color: brown.

The secrets of Syria

Vladimir Putin supported Assad to the end, being directly involved in the Syrian Civil War, and in the end, when the rebel troops led by the current interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa advanced to Damasc, he offered shelter in Russia.

Instead, the Kremlin leader has secured his monopoly on information, the German publication observes.

What could he reveal?

Possible details about attacks on civilians in Syria, Russian bombings on Aleppo, attacks on hospitals and kindergartens, all are included here.

Putin ensures its sovereignty over the decades of Syrian history and the deep involvement of Russia in it, writes Die Zeit.

Under these conditions, Assad's current life is enveloped in mystery. Living in the luxurious apartments in Moscow or in an isolated villa near the Capital, it is guarded by the FSB, as they are guarded and other former dictators who have found refuge at Putin.

Not all fugitives are the same

One of the few people who were close to Assad and agreed to talk to the press about this said Die Zeit that he advised the former leader to listen to the protesters at the beginning of the Arab Spring, but that he did not listen.

Al-Assad has long been convinced that he would manage to stifle the protests with the help of the army.

However, the revolt turned into a revolution in all the rule, then into a civil war that devastated the country.

Russia's intervention seemed to be able to propose the regime, but everything was over last year.

Not only Al-Assad fled. About 1,200 officers, many of whom, like the Assad family, belonged to the Alawite minority, now live in Russia.

Those without much money were taken to Siberia, while the rich live in Moscow, writes Die Zeit.

“Spend hours playing video games online”

The information says that, since 2013, the Assad clan has strategically purchased apartments in Moscow, just two years after the start of the revolts in Syria.

In 2019, the Financial Times reported that “Assad's extended family bought at least 18 luxury apartments in Moscow.” To hide the purchases, the family would have used a complex structure of companies and credit institutions, including a ghost company.

The Die Zeit source says the Assad family can move freely to Moscow. They hire bodyguards from a private security company paid by the Russian government.

Bashar al-Assad lives in “Three apartments in a luxury block with a mall on the ground floor, which he sometimes visits,” the former family close, “and the rest of the time spending hours playing online.

However, his wife, ASMA, is in a very precarious state of health. It was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and was considered healed until the cancer reappeared in the form of leukemia in the spring of 2024. Its condition is serious.

Assad's younger brother, Maher, lives at the Four Seasons hotel and spends his time getting drunk and smoking the hookah, according to information provided by sources close to the family. The information cannot be checked, admits Die Zeit.

Money, documents

A businessman Syrian told Die Zeit that he last spoke with Assad about a month before his escape and told him that it was urgent to change. That Syria needs a government of national unity and that the people must be involved.

Assad seemed tense, but at the same time stubborn, not being willing to make any concessions. He refused to accept that his power was declining, because his most important allies in the region, Hezbollah and the Iranian regime had been weakened.

But the flight of Bashar al-Assad was not completely unexpected: in the previous days, he brought to Dubai, in a private plane, at least half a million dollars, as well as securities and secret documents, laptops and hard disks. The plane flew a total of four times between 6 and 8 December 2024.

On November 29, 2024, just over a week before the overthrow of Assad, his son, Hafez, 23, held his doctoral thesis at the State University of Moscow. Hafez Al-Assad had studied mathematics there and had graduated with honors in the summer of 2023.

His mother, ASMA, and his grandparents were in the room when he ended his lecture with a thanks to the “martyrs of the Syrian Arab Army”, the army who, at the orders of his father, waged war against his own people in 2011.

In mid-February, Hafez Al-Assad appeared surprisingly in a clip that many observers consider.

It was for the first time since his escape when an Assad family member ignored the Russian instructions and appeared publicly on social networks. The posts were deleted shortly afterwards.