Russia has transported former Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad securely to its territory following his removal from power, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told NBC News in an interview aired on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Kremlin announced that President Vladimir Putin had decided to grant Assad asylum in Russia, after the Syrian rebels overtook the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday morning.
"He is secured, and it shows that Russia acts as required in such an extraordinary situation," Ryabkov said in the interview, according to a transcript on NBC’s website.
He declined to provide further details, saying, "I would not elaborate on what happened and how it was resolved."
When asked whether Russia would hand over Assad for trial, Ryabkov responded, "Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court."
Ukrainian intelligence claimed that Assad's escape operation from Syria to Russia was meticulously planned and included a deception maneuver, during which the Syrian President's plane disappeared from radar, sparking speculation that it had crashed.
Russia, which has maintained strong ties with Syria since the early days of the Cold War, had been conducting air strikes in Syria since September 2015, in support of Assad as he was fighting the rebels.
While Russia insisted it was attacking targets associated with the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization, Western officials claimed Moscow was also targeting so-called "moderate" rebel groups fighting ISIS.