The Kremlin on Monday denied that the British-born wife of Bashar al-Assad, the deposed Syrian president, wanted a divorce and to leave Russia.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, also rejected Turkish media reports which suggested Assad had been confined to Moscow and had his property assets frozen.

Asked if the reports were true, Mr Peskov said: “No they do not correspond to reality.”

Turkish and Arabic media reported on Sunday that Asma al-Assad was seeking a divorce in Russia, where the Assad family were granted asylum this month after rebels took control of Damascus following a lightning advance.

It was suggested she wanted to return to the UK for cancer treatment.

Asma, 48, was born to Syrian parents and grew up in Acton, West London. She moved to Syria in 2000 and married her husband.

The Syrian presidency announced in May that Asma had leukaemia, having already been treated for breast cancer between 2018 and 2019.

Asma still has British citizenship, but David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said on Monday she was no longer welcome in the country, implying she may soon lose her UK passport.

“I’ve seen mentioned in the last few days, Asma Assad (is) potentially someone with UK citizenship that might attempt to come into our country, and I want it confirmed that she’s a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK,” he told parliament.

Asma al-Assad had her UK assets frozen in March 2012 amid growing protests against her husband’s rule, as part of a European sanction programme that London maintained after Brexit.

The UK has previously stripped citizens of their nationality for joining the Islamic State group, Bader Mousa Al-Saif, researcher at the Chatham House think tank, told AFP.

“If that could be happening to an unknown in an extremist camp, I think the same, if not more, warrants for the case of Asma al-Assad,” he added.

In 2020 the United States imposed sanctions on Asma al-Assad, her parents and two brothers, with then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo describing her as “one of Syria’s most notorious war profiteers”.