The wealth that Bashar al-Assad's family may have taken with them to Moscow is revealed

President Bashar al-Assad, his British wife and their three grown-up children have left their Syrian palaces behind and are expected to start a new life in Russia after being granted asylum by Vladimir Putin.

Asma Al-Assad, the London-born doctor's daughter who married Assad, is used to a life of luxury, with reports that she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on home furnishings and clothes during her husband's rule.

And according to foreign media, Telegraph reports, the US State Department estimates that the family is worth $2 billion, with their wealth hidden in multiple accounts.

Now they are likely to use their family connections and extensive wealth in Moscow in hopes of maintaining their comfortable lifestyles in exile.

And according to foreign media, the Syrian dictator's extended family bought at least 20 apartments in Moscow worth more than £30 million in recent years, illustrating Russia's status as a safe haven.

According to reports, he was granted asylum in the Kremlin on the direct orders of Vladimir Putin.

Moscow did not reveal further details, with presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters today: "We have nothing to say about Assad's whereabouts."

Mrs Assad, who has been battling an aggressive form of leukaemia, is widely believed to have arrived in Moscow with her daughter and two sons days before her husband eventually fled Syria.

Secret tunnels under an Assad family residence were reportedly discovered after rebels seized the capital Damascus on Sunday, with the network serving as a potential escape route for the dictator and his allies.

Meanwhile reports have suggested that Assad may have fled via Russia's Khmeimim air base, with flight trackers said to show a Russian plane taking off from near the northeastern city of Latakia, just hours before he was reported to be in Moscow.

The family - including sons Hafez and Karim, 24 and 21, and daughter Zein, 22 - are now expected to "move their lives to Russia", although it is unclear whether they will live in a private property or be forced to stay in a "government shelter". /Telegraph/