Reports have surfaced claiming Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is seeking a divorce and planning to leave Russia for London.

Turkish outlets suggested that Asma had applied to Russian courts for permission to leave Moscow and return to London, where she was born and raised. The reports also claimed that she sought advanced medical care for leukemia, diagnosed in May 2023.

Asma’s father, Dr. Fawaz Akhras, a London-based cardiologist, refuted the divorce claims in a statement to The Daily Beast. He also said Asma is receiving excellent treatment in Russia.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also dismissed the allegations during a press briefing, stating that reports of restrictions on the Assad family’s movements in Russia and frozen assets in Moscow were “not true.”

Asma, 49, moved to Russia with her husband after a coalition of Syrian rebel groups ousted his regime earlier this month. Bashar fled Syria under cover, citing intensified drone attacks near his position at a Russian-controlled airbase. Russian President Vladimir Putin granted the Assads asylum, but they have remained out of the public eye.

Asma, a dual British-Syrian national, retains her U.K. citizenship but is under sanctions by multiple countries, including the U.K. Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy recently stated that Asma is a “sanctioned individual” and is not welcome in the U.K.

The Assad family’s fall from power ends five decades of Ba’ath Party rule in Syria. Bashar has been accused of overseeing mass atrocities during the Syrian civil war, including the use of chemical weapons. 

Western leaders welcomed his ouster, with the U.S. President Joe Biden calling it “a fundamental act of justice” and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer labeling his regime “barbaric.”