Ukraine sanctioned Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad and other officials of his regime for supporting the Russian invasion

Ukraine has sanctioned Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and other senior members of his regime for supporting the Russian invasion. (Reuters)

The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, announced sanctions against the Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, in a decree published this Saturday that also establishes restrictive measures for other high officials of his regime.

The measure blocks the assets that the Syrian regime may have in Ukraine and prohibits any commercial transaction in which it may be involved, actions that will be in force for a period of ten years, the Kyiv Independent portal reported.

This new battery of sanctions also affects the Prime Minister of Syria, Hussein Arnús, and the Foreign Minister, Faisal al Mikdad, as well as 141 entities and 300 individuals from Syria and Russia.

Bashar al-Assad visited Russia this week to convey to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Damascus’s support for Moscow regarding the illegal invasion of Ukraine where, according to him, the Russian Armed Forces are facing “new and old Nazis” from Europe.

In the words of the Syrian dictator, talking about Nazis in Ukraine is justified because “the West accepted the old Nazis in their own land” in the middle of the last century, and now “supports them again” in the framework of the war, according to statements collected by the TASS agency.

Ukraine severed diplomatic ties with Syria last year after Bashar al-Assad’s regime recognized Russian-occupied areas in the east of the country as independent states.

This new battery of sanctions also affects the Prime Minister of Syria, Hussein Arnús, and the Foreign Minister, Faisal al Mikdad, as well as 141 entities and 300 individuals from Syria and Russia. (EFE)

Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, joining Iran in allowing the Assad dictatorship to fight armed opposition groups and regain control of most of the country.

While the Russian government is currently concentrating most of its military resources in Ukraine, Moscow has maintained its military presence in Syria, leaving its warplanes and soldiers at its bases there.

Moscow has provided strong political support for Assad at the United Nations and has actively mediated to help mend his government’s ties with regional powers.

Some Arab countries that in the past have called for Assad’s ouster have sent aid after the catastrophic earthquake on February 6 that struck Turkey and Syria, which killed more than 50,000 people.

In 2020, the Syrian regime and its entourage had already been sanctioned by the US for human rights abuses.

Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, joining Iran in allowing the Assad dictatorship to fight armed opposition groups and regain control of most of the country. (Reuters)

The sanctions are the result of legislation known as the Caesar Law for the Protection of Syrian Civilians, named after the pseudonym of a Syrian policeman who handed over photographs of thousands of victims of torture by the Assad dictatorship.

That same year, the French court sentenced Rifaat al Assad, Bashar al Assad’s uncle, to four years in prison for money laundering.

The judges found Rifaat al-Assad guilty of the crimes of money laundering in an organized gang and embezzlement of Syrian funds between 1996 and 2016.

(With information from Europa Press, The Associated Press and EFE)

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