Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spearheaded efforts to ensure former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s safe escape from Syria.

Axar.az reports that citing Reuters, Lavrov was said to have held talks with Turkiye and Qatar in Doha over the weekend, leveraging their unofficial connections to rebel groups to facilitate Assad’s departure.

Russia then coordinated with neighboring countries to ensure a Russian plane carrying Assad would not be intercepted or targeted as it left Syrian airspace.

Lavrov did “whatever he could” to guarantee Assad’s safe exit, a Western security source told the news agency.