THE NEW YORK TIMES: Bashar al-Assad’s long, brutal reign ended swiftly, but he and his close circle have had a soft landing in Russia.
Just a few weeks after a whirlwind rebel offensive seized control of his homeland last year, a Syrian expatriate in Moscow treated himself to a meal in the city’s tallest skyscraper.
With views from the 62nd floor, stylish hostesses and elaborate cocktails, the restaurant “Sixty” regularly welcomes members of Russia’s political elite and foreign celebrities.
So the Syrian diner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he had not been surprised when waiters asked him to refrain from taking photos.
But he was surprised to discover who one of the V.I.P.s dining in his midst was: his country’s ousted dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
For more than five decades, the Assad family name has been synonymous with brutal autocracy. Now, the Assads are fugitives living in Moscow.
Both the deposed president and his brother Maher, one of the regime’s most powerful military leaders, have betrayed little about how they spend their days in the country that propped them up when they were in power and took them in when they fell.
But from witnesses and family friends, and digital clues left on hard-to-track social media accounts, reporters for The New York Times have uncovered glimpses into a life of luxury and impunity. » | Erika Solomon, Christiaan Triebert, Haley Willis and Ahmad Mhidi | Monday, December 22, 2025
