The New York Times reported over the past day that the personal aide of Syria's ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad fled with him to Russia when the regime collapsed, only to be abandoned in the heart of the Russian capital.
The aide, whose duties included carrying suitcases and opening doors, was put up in a suite at Moscow's luxury Four Seasons hotel. At some point, however, al-Assad cut off contact and stopped answering his calls, leaving the aide stuck with an enormous hotel bill.
Friends of the aide said he was one of the only people to accompany al-Assad on his flight to Moscow in December 2024. He was instructed to join al-Assad so abruptly that he did not have time to take his passport, money or clothes.
At first, the aide stayed close to al-Assad, who was lodged in a suite at the Four Seasons. The aide himself was placed in another suite along with two additional aides. The following morning, according to his friends, hotel staff presented them with a massive bill. The three aides reportedly panicked and tried to contact al-Assad, but he never returned their calls.
Eventually, Russian officials were forced to intervene and offered to move the aides to a former Soviet-era military site together with other, lower-ranking regime officers. Instead, al-Assad's personal aide chose to arrange a flight back to Syria.
Today he lives with his family in a rural area, hoping to avoid attention. According to people familiar with his situation, he struggles to make ends meet and at times receives money from an official of the former regime to get through the month. The Assad family offered him nothing in return for his years of service. "Bashar is living a full life, as if nothing happened. He humiliated us when he was here. He screwed us over when he left," a former regime associate said.
According to The New York Times, the Assad family fled to Moscow aboard private jets. Under close protection from Russian security services, they initially stayed in suites at the Four Seasons, where prices can reach $13,000 a week.
From there, al-Assad and his family moved to a penthouse in the Federation Tower, and later to a villa in the upscale Rublyovka neighborhood. Even now, Syrian security services are overseeing the family and have instructed al-Assad not to make public statements.
