The transponder trick that Putin used to smuggle Assad out of Syria: How dictator escaped in dramatic dash to his private plane, used a slight of hand to evade flight tracker and switched jets in Russia

Kremlin sources have revealed the tricks Russia reportedly used to smuggle President Bashar al-Assad out of Syria as his regime suddenly collapsed.

It comes as one of Vladimir Putin’s allies confirmed for the first time today that Russia did indeed help the ousted dictator flee to Moscow.

Three sources told Bloomberg News that Moscow organised for Assad to escape via its air base on the Syrian coast, using a ‘transponder trick’. 

He was reportedly ordered to tell no-one, switch his transponder off and get on his private plane in the capital Damascus. 

The aircraft then travelled to Russia’s Khmeimim air base on the Syrian coast, before Assad headed to Moscow, possibly on a military plane, the sources have claimed. 

It is understood Putin personally approved Assad’s rescue but has no intention of meeting him now he is in exile.

Agents working for the Russian government convinced Assad to leave the country immediately after it became clear he would lose a fight with the rebels, the Kremlin sources said.  

It comes after flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed a plane believed to be carrying Assad as he left the Syrian capital Damascus in the early hours of Sunday morning. 

The plane headed towards the Mediterranean Sea, before making a U-turn and disappearing from the map.

Sergei Ryabkov (pictured), Russia’s deputy foreign minister, claimed that Assad was transported to Moscow ‘in the safest way possible’ at the weekend

Assad with his British-born wife Asma and their children in 2022. Following the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship over the weekend, Assad will now start a new life in Russia

Flightradar24 showed a plane heading from the Syrian capital Damascus towards the Mediterranean Sea in the early hours of Sunday morning 

The plane then appears to make a U-turn before vanishing off the map 

Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, claimed today that Assad was transported out of Syria ‘in the most secure way possible’ over the weekend. 

Speaking to NBC News, Mr Ryabkov said: ‘He [Assad] is secured, and it shows that Russia acts as required in such an extraordinary situation.’

And when asked if Moscow would hand Assad over the International Criminal Court, he implied they would not, saying Russia ‘is not party to the convention’ that established it. 

In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity – with the US rejecting the decision. 

Human rights groups have also previously accused Assad of war crimes – such as using chemical weapons on civilians.

Explaining why Russia helped Assad escape, Mr Ryabkov said he ‘was accused by the same group of countries and governments that continuously defeat attempts to live their own ways as it happened in Iraq, in Libya and in many more’. 

Referring to Netanyahu’s arrest warrant, Mr Ryabkov added it was ‘amazing’ that Washington ‘configures its response’ in relation to which people are being prosecuted by the court. 

Vladimir Putin was Assad’s key ally during Syria’s long civil war with the Kremlin helping him maintain his family’s brutal dynasty which had governed Syria for over 50 years.

Putin has also built up a massive military presence in Syria with an air base in Latakia and a naval facility in Tartus – which is Russia’s only Mediterranean naval hub – and an estimated 7,000 military personal on the ground as recently as this summer. 

Mr Ryabkov said that he had ‘no idea what going on with him [Assad] right now’ adding that it ‘would be very wrong for me to elaborate on what happened and how it was resolved’.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, told the international press this morning that Russia was in contact with the rebels over its military bases. 

He said: ‘We, of course, maintain contacts with those who are currently controlling the situation in Syria,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

Putin embraces Assad during a meeting in 2017.  Russia has built up a massive military presence in Syria with an air base in Latakia and a naval facility in Tartus – which is Russia’s only Mediterranean naval hub

Rebel fighters set fire to the gravesite of Hafez al-Assad. Syrians for the first time in six decades look to a future without the Assad family

Assad’s extended family reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex (pictured), located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district

The Assad family’s secret escape tunnels have been revealed after Syrian rebels were left stunned by the huge luxury underground network

‘This is necessary because our bases are located there, our diplomatic mission is located there and, of course, the issue related to ensuring the security of these facilities is extremely important and of primary significance.’

Following the humiliating capitulation of his dictatorship over the weekend, Assad and his family will now start a new life in Russia.  

They are likely to draw on their family connections and extensive assets in Moscow in the hope of keeping up their comfortable lifestyle in exile.

The Syrian dictator’s extended family bought up at least 20 Moscow apartments worth more than £30 million in recent years, illustrating Russia’s status as a safe haven for the clan.

This included the purchase of at least  18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district.

The two-towered skyscraper – which until the unveiling of London’s Shard in 2012 was Europe’s tallest building – is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, government ministries, five-star hotels and multinational companies.

Back Assad’s former residence in Damascus, secret tunnels beneath an Assad family mansion were reportedly uncovered after rebels seized the capital Damascus on Sunday, with the network serving as a possible escape route for the dictator and his allies. 

Meanwhile, in Syria its citizen look to rebuild their nation after 13 years of war and – for the first time in six decades – they look to a future without the Assad family’s autocratic rule. 

Away from the thousands of Syrians taking to the street to celebrate, the true horrors of the Assad regime are only just being uncovered. 

Many have travelled into the infamous Sednaya Prison near Damascus, nicknamed the ‘Human Slaughterhouse’ in hopes of finding long-lost family members.

The prison was the epicentre of this systematic terror where huge numbers of detainees were subjected to all manner of inhumane treatments and executed. 

Dark footage and images published this week showed how horrified rescuers pulled out dozens upon dozens of body bags containing rotting corpses from the depths of the facility.

But there are dozens more facilities across the nation where victims of the Assad regime were left to suffer and die.

Now, as survivors of these hellhole jails emerge to reunite with their families and give chilling testimonies about life behind bars, those deemed responsible for orchestrating the horrors may soon face their comeuppance.

The leader of Syria’s rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that played a leading role in the lightning offensive that ousted Assad has vowed to hunt down officials, security forces and army officers who ‘tortured’ the Syrian people.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024

An aerial view of the Sednaya Military Prison after armed groups, opposing Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime take control in Damascus. The prison was the epicentre of this systematic terror where huge numbers of detainees were subjected to all manner of inhumane treatments and executed

Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has vowed to rebuild Syria and HTS has spent years trying to soften its image to reassure foreign nations and minority groups.

But he openly declared he would hold accountable those found to have been involved in ‘war crimes’ against Syrians.

The Assad regime’s detention centres in Syria represented one of the most depraved systems of institutionalised torture in modern history.

The prison system under Assad was not merely punitive; it was a calculated mechanism to crush dissent and terrorise populations.

No one was safe from Assad’s maniacal security forces.

Rebel fighters were cast into jails along with intellectuals, activists and regular civilians – all were subjected to heinous treatment, in many cases for several decades.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights claims that since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, over 157,000 people remain under arrest or have been forcibly disappeared – including 5,274 children and 10,221 women.

More than 15,000 are said to have died under torture in that time.