Kommersant: Assad may come to hide in Belarus

• 4.07.2012, 9:31

Lukashneka is waiting for him.

In an interview to Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet Syrian nominal president Bashar al-Assad made his first clear statement that he was ready to resign if his resignation ended the armed conflict with the opposition, Russian Kommersant daily reports.

According to the paper, Moscow can convince Minsk to give shelter to Assad in case of his resignation. This opinion was expressed by Vladimir Sotnikov, a senior researcher at the Centre for International Security at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Science.

The news that Western countries, above all the US, are actively trying to persuade Moscow to host the Syrian leader and give him political shelter was received by Kommersant from an “information source” in Russian diplomatic circles. As the source says, this fact disavows the information recently spread by Western media that Russia took a decision to grant political asylum for Assad, who is said to have transferred most of his savings to Russia. “We have no plans to invite Assad here,” the source said.

“Moscow can give Assad political asylum if it understands the West is not ready to guarantee safety for the Syrian leader and his family,” Vladimir Sotnikov says. He does not rule out a possibility that Moscow “will talk to Belarus to give shelter to Assad in order not to stir up public opinion in the West – Lukashenka seems be ready doe it”.

In April 2010, ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was given political asylum in Belarus on invitation of Lukashenka. In August-September 2011, unofficial information appeared that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi chose Belarus as his shelter, but it was not confirmed officially and the dictator was killed in his home country.