Bashar al-Assad’s central bank airlifted around $250mn in cash to Moscow in a two-year period when the then Syrian dictator was indebted to the Kremlin for military support and his relatives were secretly buying assets in Russia.

The Financial Times has uncovered records showing that Assad’s regime, while desperately short of foreign currency, flew banknotes weighing nearly two tonnes in $100 bills and €500 notes into Moscow’s Vnukovo airport to be deposited at sanctioned Russian banks between 2018 and 2019.

The unusual transfers from Damascus underscore how Russia, a crucial ally to Assad that lent him military support to prolong his regime, became one of the most important destinations for Syria’s cash as western sanctions pushed it out of the financial system.