Bashar al-Assad’s new life in Moscow – playing PlayStation games and ‘brushing up on ophthalmology’, living in luxury apartment away from the outside world after falling out with Putin
Exiled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is said to have spent his days playing video games and honing his ophthalmology skills in his luxury Moscow apartment and country villa after being granted asylum by Vladimir Putin.
The deposed ruler, branded ‘The Butcher’ for killing his own people, found a new life in a plush 300-metre tower after fleeing Syria when he was overthrown in December, ending a brutal 24-year dictatorship.
The 60-year-old is believed to be living in three flats in a luxury multi-storey building with a shopping mall on the ground floor in the Moscow City district, a glittering business district in the heart of Russia’s capital.
The skyscraper’s penthouse is ‘lavishly decorated; ‘cream-coloured wardrobes with gold trim, crystal chandeliers and large sofas reminiscent of Middle Eastern palaces’.
The lavish complex, where his family owns around 20 flats over three floors worth more than £30 million, is next door to a shopping center he sometimes visits.
The brutal dictator fled to Russia in December after a blitzkrieg led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ended 13 years of civil war and six decades of autocratic rule by the Assad family.
He has continued his duties since then. According to a source close to the family, he is training as an ophthalmologist to treat the elite of Moscow, which he calls home after he is dethroned.
A family friend told the Guardian: ‘He is studying Russian and brushing up on his ophthalmology again.
Bashar al-Assad (pictured) was known as the ‘Butcher’ of his nation for his brutal treatment of his people
Assad currently lives with his British wife Esma Esad, who has cancer, his sons Hafez and Karim, aged 24 and 21, and his daughter Zein, 22.
Exiled Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad reportedly spends his days playing video games in his luxury Moscow apartment
‘It’s a passion of his, he obviously doesn’t need the money. Even before the war in Syria began, he was regularly practicing ophthalmology in Damascus.
He trained in ophthalmology in London in the early 1990s, but was called back to his hometown in 1994 following the unexpected death of his brother in a car crash.
He soon entered the Military Academy and took over as the regime’s heir apparent.
Although he is allowed to move freely in Moscow and at his villa outside the Russian capital, he now spends most of his time playing online video games.
He was provided with bodyguards from a private security firm paid by the Russian government.
His friend stated that he now lives a ‘very quiet life’ and added: ‘He has little or no contact with the outside world. He is in contact only with a few people in his palace, such as Mansour Azzam. [former Syrian minister of presidency affairs] and Yaşar İbrahim [Assad’s top economic crony].’
Part of this is due to Putin’s apparent removal of Assad following the collapse of the regime in Syria.
A source close to the Kremlin told the newspaper: ‘Putin has little patience for leaders who lose power and Assad is no longer seen as an influential figure or an interesting guest to invite to dinner.’
Images of Assad wearing a speedo became the subject of ridicule on social media after the fall of his regime
A photograph found after the fall of the regime shows Assad openly posing for the camera, wearing nothing but white trousers and a vest.
The photo, in which Syrian President Bashar Assad is thought to be wearing only a speedo, was taken by rebels after the capture of his palace in Aleppo.
Pictures of the apartments in the complex show luxury fittings and high-end furniture, as well as panoramic views of Moscow (descriptive picture shows one apartment in the building)
Join the discussion
Should exiled dictators like Assad be allowed to live in luxury while their people suffer?
Assad currently lives with his British wife Esma Al-Assad, who has cancer, his sons Hafez and Karim, aged 24 and 21, and his daughter Zein, 22.
It is stated that Asma, who was born in London and married into the brutal autocratic dynasty in 2000, is in a ‘serious’ condition due to leukemia.
She is used to a luxurious life, according to reports that her husband spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on household goods and clothes during the terror period.
The luxury Moscow space provides similar opulence, with a 20-metre-high lobby filled with light and decorated with modern art. There are sofas, booths and a welcome drink for visitors.
They have a huge heated bathroom in front of a 13ft window of a 990ft skyscraper with one of the best views of Moscow.
The bathroom is made entirely of Carrara marble.
“On May 9, Victory Day, you can watch the fireworks from the bathtub with a glass of champagne,” said Natasha, who sells penthouses in the same tower in the Moscow City area. De Zeit.
The Assads are in a good place and are enjoying the money they stole. According to the news of the German newspaper based on Syrian sources, the Syrian people mean nothing to them.
Assad’s younger brother Maher is reportedly staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in Moscow and spending his time smoking hookah.
Revelations about the family’s luxurious life in Moscow emerged as the Putin regime was forced to deny that Assad was poisoned in an assassination attempt.
One of the photos shows him in his khaki hunting costume, with a gun and fur accessory, standing next to friends who are also wearing costumes.
These photos show the 59-year-old man as a young man in the 80s and 90s
The overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria was seen as a great embarrassment for Putin, who offered him asylum
A general view shows hundreds of people gathered in Al Assi Square in Hama, Syria, during celebrations of one year since the liberation of the city on December 5, 2025.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov insisted the former Damascus despot had ‘no problems living in our capital’.
Rumors of food poisoning spread in late September, leading to Assad’s hospitalization.
However, the following month Lavrov said: ‘There was no poisoning, if such rumors arise, I leave it to the conscience of those who spread it.’
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing a ‘private source’, claimed that Assad was hospitalized on the outskirts of Moscow.
The source claimed that Assad had been ‘poisoned’ and that the purpose behind the assassination operation was to ’embarrass the Russian government and accuse it of being complicit in his death’.
The report stated that Assad’s condition was ‘stable’ after he was hospitalized.
Lavrov also sought to justify Putin rescuing Assad from the revolution gripping Syria and providing him with a safe haven.
‘Bashar Assad is here for humanitarian reasons. “He and his family were facing physical destruction,” he said.
‘We all remember your fate’ [Libyan leader] Hillary Clinton, who watched live on television and applauded the physical destruction that Muammar Gaddafi caused so much joy.
We gave asylum to Bashar al-Assad and his family for purely humanitarian reasons. He has no problem living in our capital.
His wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and was considered cured until the cancer turned into leukemia in 2024.
She was already receiving treatment in Moscow when her husband’s regime was overthrown.
Their 23-year-old son, Hafez, who is studying in Moscow, said the family fled Damascus after Putin’s army withdrew them just before it was swept into the revolution.
He admitted that the collapse of the regime came as a shock.
“There was no plan or even support to leave Damascus, let alone Syria,” he admitted in a now-deleted video.
A Syrian rebel fires a gun into the air to celebrate the rebel capture of Damascus in Homs, Syria, early December 8, 2024
Smoke rises after Syrian rebels capture Damascus, Syria, December 8, 2024
‘After meeting with Moscow, the base command informed us that our transfer to Russia was requested.
‘After a while, we boarded a Russian military plane to Moscow and landed there the same night.’
Assad remains a wanted man by the new government in Syria, which has issued an arrest warrant on charges of premeditated murder, torture and incitement to civil war.
The search warrant gave a precise description of him as ‘1.89 meters tall, oval face, high forehead, long nose’. Eye color: Blue. Hair colour: Brown.’
