ALBAWABA - In a leaked document, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) exposed massive money transfers made to Moscow by the previous Syrian government via "Syrian Airlines."
Millions of money were allegedly transferred, mostly from captagon medication sales. The last such transfer took place in December, four days before Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, according to the observatory.
According to the claim, "Syrian Airlines" flew weekly to Moscow's Vnukovo Airport from late 2020 to mid-2024, with each aircraft carrying $20 million worth of cash-filled luggage. Insiders at Damascus International Airport provided the paper, which claimed that military intelligence personally oversaw the transactions to maintain confidentiality.
According to the source, the money was transferred from the Central Bank of Syria in safe vehicles and placed straight into aircraft while being well monitored. There was a clear warning to passengers and airline employees not to inquire about the kind or substance of the cargo.
Details like the quantity of bags, their weights, the flight itineraries, and the Moscow bank address that received the payments were all contained in the secret paper. SOHR claims that these money were used to support illicit operations and foreign investments.
Rami Abdulrahman, director of SOHR, emphasized the paper as proof of the regime's widespread financial misdeeds. He issued a warning, saying that further research may reveal a huge financial network that supported the regime's agenda.
Large sums of money were transported by the planes to the Syrian embassy in Moscow, where they were disbursed to businesspeople connected to the government for real estate and business venture investments, according to a Russian source.
Assad's uncle, Mohammad Makhlouf, was also named in the report as a major participant who reportedly oversaw the activities while living in opulent Moscow apartments. Numerous expensive houses in Moscow are purportedly owned by the Makhlouf and Assad families, indicating their significant financial influence in Russia.
