The exiled ex-Syrian leader should aid in the reconstruction of Donbass, Dmitry Kuznetsov has argued
Exiled former Syrian leader, Bashar Assad, should contribute to the rebuilding of Russian cities damaged during the conflict with Ukraine, Russian politician Dmitry Kuznetsov has said. He added that Assad could potentially be given Russian citizenship.
Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, was overthrown earlier this month, when a coalition of armed opposition groups dominated by the Islamists from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured Damascus in a lightning offensive.
According to the Kremlin, Assad and his family were granted asylum in Russia. He has not appeared in public or released statements since the fall of the Syrian capital on Sunday. It is unclear what he plans to do next.
“I believe Bashar Assad and his family could become benefactors of one of the areas of Donbass that was devastated by warfare, and could move into one of the newly built houses in Mariupol,” Kuznetsov, who sits on the parliamentary foreign relations committee, told Gazeta.Ru on Thursday.
The Black Sea port city of Mariupol, currently part of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, was seized by Russian troops in 2022, after a three-month siege. The Russian authorities are undertaking reconstruction of the city.
“I am in favor of [Assad] proving himself in service to the Russian people, and after that – for his contribution to the recovery of Donbass – we could consider the issue of citizenship,” the politician said.
Another legislator, Aleksey Zhuravlyov, argued earlier that Assad deserves to be granted citizenship because he “has done enough for Russia.”
According to Russian officials, Assad made a decision to step down following negotiations with unspecified opposition groups. Mikhail Ulyanov, a senior Russian diplomat, described the decision to grant Assad asylum as evidence that Moscow “does not betray its friends in difficult situations.”
Russia intervened in the Syrian civil war in 2015, in order to help the Assad government fight various opposition forces, as well as the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). While future of the Russian military bases in Syria remains unclear, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that it maintains contacts with the new HTS-led authorities in Damascus, and that its diplomats and military personnel are not under immediate threat.
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