Turkish and Arabic news media set off a worldwide media blitz over the weekend after unsubstantiated claims emerged that Asma was ending her marriage with the former Syrian dictator and hoping to return to the United Kingdom, where she was born.

Asked about the rumors at a press conference on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the claims “do not correspond to reality.”

Bashar and Asma Assad are currently living in Moscow under the protection of the Russian government — the pair and their children escaped Syria in the final hours of the rebel takeover that has now established itself as the nation’s new government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered them to be rescued and brought to the country, according to previous statements by the Kremlin.

The details of their living arrangements are not yet known, but other exiled former heads of state have previously been given cushy accommodations and private security. They are also believed to have retained access to much of their billion-dollar fortune.

Bashar Assad released a statement on the collapse of his country last week — his first communique since losing control.

“When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose, rendering its occupation meaningless,” the former president wrote. “This does not, in any way, diminish my profound sense of belonging to Syria and her people — a bond that remains unshaken by any position or circumstance. It is a belonging filled with hope that Syria will once again be free and independent.”

The supposed Assad divorce would have come as a shock. The former ruling family, widely condemned over the president’s use of chemical weapons against his own civilians, have been portrayed as sincere sweethearts.

Their romantic affection was seemingly confirmed in 2012 when Bashar’s email account was hacked by the loose activist network Anonymous and published by Wikileaks.

“Sometimes at night, when I look to the sky, I start thinking of you and ask myself, why?” Asma wrote to her husband in one leaked email. “Why do I love you? I think and smile, because I know the list could run on for miles.”

Amid civil unrest and human rights violations, the dictator also sent his wife private sketches of valentine hearts and links to romantic country music songs.