The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has revealed a classified document that exposes secret operations to transfer huge sums of money through Syrian Airlines to the Russian capital, Moscow, describing it as ‘one of the most mysterious financial transfer operations involving the former Syrian regime’.”
The Syrian Observatory added in a statement that from the end of 2020 until the middle of last year, Syrian Airlines operated a weekly flight to Moscow, specifically to Vnukovo Airport, and on each flight, bags filled with money were carried, with an average value of $20 million.
Through a leaked classified document obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, it was confirmed that this money was transferred under the direct supervision of Syrian Air Intelligence, in a highly secretive operation.
According to the document, which contains detailed information, the bags containing the money were handed over directly from the Central Bank of Syria to a security truck, to be transferred to the bottom of the plane upon arrival at the airport.
The interesting thing is that these bags were carried separately from passenger luggage, and under tight security measures. To ensure the secrecy of the operation, the bags were required to be loaded first before any other cargo, and none of the employees or passengers were allowed to inquire about the contents of the bags, but everyone was warned not to interfere or ask questions.
The leaked document obtained by the Observatory is a classified document titled ‘Secret,’ and it contains detailed information about the money transfer operation, including the address of the bank handling the transfer in Moscow, the number of bags, their weight, the date of the flight, the amount transferred, and all the details related to each operation.
There was also a directive from the director-general of Syrian Airlines to facilitate the loading of the money without any obstacles, a message that was exclusively addressed to him and was not seen by anyone else.
The Observatory pointed out that its reliable sources took a picture of this document in late 2022, and it is an authentic document that reveals a network of secret financial operations that the former Syrian regime relied on to finance its various activities, without the knowledge of any of the employees or passengers about these suspicious operations.
Last month, the British newspaper ‘Financial Times’ reported that the Central Bank of Syria transferred approximately $250 million in cash to Russia via flights over a two-year period when former President Bashar al-Assad was indebted to the Kremlin for military support, while his relatives were ‘secretly’ purchasing assets in Moscow.
Bashar al-Assad’s rule fell last month after the armed Syrian opposition entered the capital, Damascus, and seized control. Assad fled to Russia, which granted him and his family asylum on humanitarian grounds, thus ending a 13-year conflict and his family’s rule of more than 50 years.
