Russia provides asylum to Bashar al-Assadhaving transferred its former leader Syria to the country “in the safest way” after the rapid collapse of his regime, its deputy foreign minister said of RussiaSergey Ryabkov, on NBC News.

“He is safe and it shows that Russia acted as it needed to in such an emergency.”said Ryabkov, who became the first Russian official to confirm Assad’s presence in the country.

“I have no idea what’s going on with him right now”Ryabkov emphasized, adding that “it would be very wrong of me to analyze what happened”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been dealt a huge blow by the collapse of a regime to which he gave his full backing, helping Assad stay in power after Syria’s civil war and preserve his family’s violent dynasty, which began in 1971.

Ryabkov noted that Russia would continue to support Assad, whose regime is accused of chemical weapons attacks and other war crimes, as well as the killing, systematic torture and disappearance of tens of thousands of people since the 2011 mass uprising that sparked the conflict.

“Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court,” Ryabkov said when asked if the Kremlin would hand over Assad for trial.