The Kremlin says in a statement that it was President Vladimir Putin himself who made the decision to grant Bashar al-Assad asylum in Russia, after his regime was overthrown over the weekend, Reuters reports.
Russian media reported on Sunday that Assad and his family had traveled to Moscow. The Kremlin, according to AFP, refuses to confirm whether this is true or not.
“What has happened has surprised the whole world. We are not an exception,” says Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.