By Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday promised to ask former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for help in locating American veteran and journalist Austin Tice following a letter from Tice’s mother pleading for assistance.
‘I haven’t seen President Assad yet, since he came to Moscow – but I plan to do so. I will have a conversation with him,’ Putin told NBC during a press conference according to a translator, though he appeared to cast doubt on the former president’s ability to help. ‘We are adults, we understand – 12 years ago, a person went missing in Syria, 12 years ago.
‘We understand what the situation was and 12 years ago acts of hostilities were ongoing from both sides. Does President Assad himself know what happened to that U.S. citizen, a journalist who performed his journalistic duty in a combat area?’ he asked before giving a shrug.
‘Nonetheless, I do promise that I will ask this question to him,’ he added.
Putin’s comments came after Debra Tice on Wednesday appealed to the Kremlin chief in a letter to help find her son who went missing after he was detained in Damascus in August 2012.
The Syrian government for more than a decade refused to negotiate the release of Tice, who was abducted while reporting on the uprising against the Assad regime during the early stages of the Syrian civil war, which ultimately ended earlier this month after the Syrian president was ousted and fled to Moscow.
‘The current situation in Syria compels us to ask for your help in finding Austin and safely reuniting our family. You have profound connections with the Syrian government, which can be a great benefit for our unrelenting efforts to find our Austin,’ she wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News. ‘In this holiday season of peace and goodwill, we respectfully request your assistance in finding Austin and safely reuniting him with our family.
‘We would, of course, be willing to travel to Moscow or any other place on Earth to put our arms around our precious Austin and bring him home safely,’ she added.
In an interview with NBC News, Debra defended her decision to write to the authoritarian leader, one of the U.S.’ chief adversaries, and said, ‘Of course I am reaching out to powerful people, so they can help us.’
‘Russia has had a port there in Latakia forever, so I do think they have the ability to know what’s going on the ground. We are still trying to find out where he is,’ she emphasized.
The State Department has escalated its efforts to find Tice following the fall of the Assad regime, including by offering a $10 million reward for information relating to his release.
‘We have fanned out everywhere with every possible source, every possible actor who might be able to get information,’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday in his interview with MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe,’ in a transcript sent out by the State Department. ‘This involves anyone and everyone who has some relationship with the different rising authorities in Syria. We’ve been in direct contact with them ourselves. We have other partners on the ground, and we’re looking at getting on the ground ourselves as quickly as we can.
‘But the most important thing is this: Any piece of information we get, any lead we have, we’re following it. We have ways of doing that irrespective of exactly where we are,’ Blinken continued. ‘And I can just tell you that this is the number-one priority… to get Austin.’