German newspaper “Die Zeit” revealed that former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted on December 8 last year, lives in the Russian capital under direct protection from the Kremlin, in one of the most isolated and mysterious periods of his life.

According to the newspaper, Assad’s life in Moscow combines excessive luxury and complete isolation, living in apartments overlooking skyscrapers, while his political record remains hostage to Moscow, far from any role or influence in Syria’s future.

The newspaper reported that Bashar al-Assad’s family, who fled Syria in December last year, owns about 20 luxury apartments spread over 3 floors in a high-end skyscraper in central Moscow. A Russian source told the newspaper that the Assad family resides in 3 connected apartments located above a luxury shopping center, guarded by private security personnel from a Russian security company funded by the government. “Die Zeit” disclosed that the Assad family began buying apartments in Moscow since 2013, two years after the protests began.

In 2019, the British newspaper “Financial Times” reported that the Assad family had purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in Moscow, using a complex network of companies and financial institutions for this purpose.

The report quoted a close associate of Assad saying that the former president lives a lavish life, spending long hours playing video games and occasionally visiting shopping centers in Moscow. The team managed to enter the building itself and described the apartments as “palaces suspended in the sky” equipped with crystal chandeliers, luxurious furniture with gilded frames, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Moskva River and surrounding skyscrapers.

They added that the bathroom is entirely made of Carrara marble, with a giant ceramic bathtub in front of 4-meter-high windows.

According to the German newspaper, Asma al-Assad (the former president’s wife) suffers from a critical health condition after a recurrence of the cancer she recovered from in 2018.

She has been receiving treatment in Moscow since her condition deteriorated in spring 2024.

Meanwhile, Maher (Assad’s brother) stays in a 5-star hotel and spends most of his time smoking hookah.

In February, Hafez (Assad’s son) appeared in a video posted on social media, walking in an upscale neighborhood in Moscow, talking about the last days before his father’s regime fell.

In the video circulated by the media, he said: “We did not plan to flee Syria, but Russia urgently moved us to Moscow after the fall of Damascus.”