AI answer: Yes. If by “verifiable evidence” you mean evidence stronger than newspaper articles citing unnamed sources, the case is considerably narrower than my previous answer suggested.

I would separate evidence that Assad reached Russia in December 2024 from evidence that he is still in Russia now.

1. Strong evidence that he arrived in Russia in December 2024

There is an unusually strong primary-source basis for this:

• On 10 December 2024, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov publicly confirmed that Assad was in Russia and safe. He said Russia had transported him into Russian territory “in the most secure way possible.” This was a direct statement by a senior Russian government official, not an anonymous media source.
• On 13 December 2024, Assad himself issued a statement from Moscow, describing his evacuation from the Russian Hmeimim base and saying that Russia had arranged his evacuation to Russia. The statement was released by his own office in Moscow.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov subsequently stated publicly that Russia had granted Assad and his family asylum on humanitarian grounds. In October 2025, Lavrov specifically said: “Bashar Assad is here” and that he and his family had been granted asylum.

Those are not merely Western media reports. They are statements by Assad himself and by senior Russian government officials.

2. But what proves he is still in Russia?

Here the evidence becomes much weaker.

The most revealing evidence is actually a statement by the Kremlin.

On 1 December 2025, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked specifically whether the Kremlin could provide information about Assad’s stay in Russia during the preceding year. Peskov replied:

“No, we cannot share any information on this issue.”

He also declined to say whether Assad had met Vladimir Putin during that period.

That means there is no publicly verifiable Russian government record establishing Assad’s physical presence in Russia throughout 2025.

There is also no publicly available:

• Russian immigration record showing his continuing residence;
• photograph or video independently establishing his location;
• Russian presidential meeting record showing him in Moscow after his arrival;
• publicly accessible residence registration;
• court record establishing his current Russian address;
• independently verifiable travel record showing that he remains in Russia.

3. What about the more recent claim that he is in Russia?

The most recent official-type evidence I can find is Lavrov’s January 2026 statement, in which he said Assad “now resides in Russia” and referred to the circumstances of Assad and his family’s arrival in the Russian Federation.

But that is still a Russian government assertion, rather than independent physical evidence.

And interestingly, Reuters’ reporting on the August 2026 Syrian death sentence says Assad is currently in Russia, but that is itself a reported assertion, not independent proof of his physical whereabouts.

My assessment

If we apply your standard strictly:

So I would not say that there is publicly available, independently verifiable evidence proving that Assad is physically in Russia today.

What can legitimately be said is that Russia has officially stated that it granted Assad asylum and that he resides there, and no credible public evidence has emerged demonstrating that he subsequently left Russia. But “Russia says he is there” is not the same thing as independently proving that he is there.

In fact, the Kremlin’s refusal in December 2025 to provide information about his whereabouts is quite significant if we’re looking specifically for hard evidence.

If you want, I can go one step further and examine flight-tracking, aircraft movements, satellite imagery, Russian property/land records, sanctions records and official Russian documents to see whether there is any independent physical evidence placing Assad in Russia after December 2024.