Investigations have shown that part of the Assads’ fortune was built on turning Syria into a narco-state by mass-producing Captagon, an addictive amphetamine popular across the Middle East party scene.

Asma, Assad’s wife, and his three children – Zein, Hafez, and Karim, aged between 21 and 24 – are also believed to be in Moscow.

Asma, profiled inVogue in 2011 as a “Rose in the Desert” – before her husband gassed, tortured and murdered thousands of opponents of his regime – is thought to be suffering from a rare form of leukaemia.

Hafez may already be familiar with Moscow’s party scene, as he reportedly lived in the city while studying for a maths PhD.

Of the two other former presidents living in exile in Russia, Yanukovych leads the most opulent life and makes for a more obvious dinner-party guest than the more downbeat Akayev.

Yanukovych is reported to live in a large house in the suburbs of Moscow and enjoy hunting trips to Sochi in south Russia, where Putin also owns a palatial holiday home.

Yanukovych and Assad both appear to share a taste for opulence.

As with the videos released on Sunday of rebels strolling around Assad’s garage filled with dozens of sports cars, Ukrainians had ogled at Yanukovych’s abandoned dacha fitted with golden taps and fine art.

Akayev, a former professor, has simpler tastes and has been photographed riding the Moscow metro wearing a thick coat, a flat cap and smudged glasses.

The 80-year-old, apparently, also doesn’t care much for his life in Russia. This year, he begged Kyrgyzstan’s parliament to be allowed back home “to see out” his remaining years.

The Telegraph, London

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