For months we drew a blank in our hunt for Luka.

And then we had our first breakthrough.

One of those listed in the book, who we tried calling again, finally answered the phone.

He had been the guard for Luka’s apartment block, he told us, and eventually agreed to give us the number for someone he said had been Luka’s personal bodyguard – a man we are calling Mahmoud.

It took weeks to secure an interview with Mahmoud. Meetings would be scheduled but he would not show up, or he would request a meeting in a private space such as a car or apartment, which our reporter judged too much of a risk.

They eventually met at a hotel one night, just before midnight. Broad-shouldered and physically imposing, Mahmoud seemed to be considering every answer carefully before he spoke.

He told us he was angry with Luka for leaving him behind when the regime fell. As word had spread in December 2024 that Assad’s rule was on the brink of collapse – with rebels advancing on the capital – Luka had said he would stay and defend Damascus, Mahmoud told us. But by the early hours of the next morning, Luka had disappeared, taking a large sum of money with him from the office safe, Mahmoud said.

Mahmoud refused to share any contact details for Luka or his family, but did give us a number for Luka’s driver, who he believed had driven the former spy chief out of the capital that night.

This man proved even harder to reach.

When he answered the phone, his voice was nervous and unsteady. He repeatedly insisted he was just a driver, and knew nothing of Luka’s activities. Multiple meetings with us were never kept, and eventually he stopped replying.

We turned our attention to Luka’s possible escape routes, including neighbouring Lebanon – where the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had close links with the Assad regime.

One senior source in the Lebanese government told us he understood Luka had passed through Lebanon on a “good Russian passport but with a different name”, before flying out to Russia.

We managed to find a man, now based in Lebanon, whose name was listed in Luka’s contacts book, but under a number that no longer worked. He is one of many wanted by the new Syrian government, because of his close association with the Assad regime.

This man, who we cannot identify, said he had a number for Luka.

We saw it, and realised it had a Russian country code.

Russia was a key backer of the Assad regime, and in the days after his fall, Assad released a statement confirming that he had fled there. Many of his inner circle were believed to have followed him.

Back in Luka’s apartment in Damascus, we had found clues that Luka also had strong links to Moscow – awards from Russia’s foreign spy service, and even a New Year’s card addressed to him from a senior Russian official.

Now, the Russian telephone number for him suggested we finally had proof that he was – as we had predicted – in Russia.