Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday evening with the hostage released Sasha Troufanov at Kremlin in Moscow, with his mother, Elena Trufanova, and his partner, Sapir Cohen, who are also old captives.
“The fact that you have managed to free yourself is the result of the fact that Russia has stable and long-term relationships with the Palestinian people, with its representatives and with a wide variety of organizations,” Putin told ex-homoseurs in a video clip of the meeting published by the RT television network funded by the State.
He also praised Hamas for his “humanitarian act” to release them: “We must express words of gratitude to the direction of the Hamas political wing for having cooperated with us and having carried out this humanitarian act.”
“We will do everything to guarantee that such acts occur as often as possible and that all the people who are still under the same conditions as you had been … are also released,” added Putin, deeply sighing in response to Troupeanov telling him that he was held in Gaza for 498 days.
Troufanov and Cohen were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, with Sasha’s mother and grandmother, Irena Tati, while her father and Elana husband, Troufanov, were murdered during the atrocities led by Hamas.
The three women were released during a ceasefire in November 2023, with Trufanova and Tati released in the gesture of Putin, while Sasha Troufanov was sent from Gaza in February in the middle of the multi-platform agreement mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt that collapsed in March.
In this photograph of swimming pool distributed by the Russian state agency Spoutnik, Russian president Vladimir Putin opens his hand with the Palestinian Islamic jihad released in hostage Sasha Troufanov, during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 16, 2025 (Sofia Sandurskaya / Pool / AFP)
The Kremlin meeting also participated in the Rabbi chief of Russia Berel Lazar and president of the Federation of Jewish communities of Russia Alexander Boroda, according to the Putin office, which published a video of the meeting alongside a reading with little substantial information.
Russia has links with all key actors in the Middle East, notably Israel, Iran and Lebanon, as well as Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
Putin with words of gratitude to the political wing of Hamas for having agreed to release the Russian-Israeli hostage https://t.co/vntegy0fpz pic.twitter.com/vahhksoh9u
– RT (@RT_com) April 16, 2025
A few days before the release of Troufanov of the Palestinian Islamic captivity of the jihad in February, a Russian-foreign minister of foreign affairs met a senior Hamas in Moscow and urged the terrorist group to hold the “promises” to release Troufanov, a double Russian-Israeli region, and Maxim Herkin, a current Israeli hospital Donbas de Ukrainne region which has Russian restaurants.
Earlier this month, Hamas published a propaganda video featuring Herkin and his compatriot Bar Kupershtein, the first sign of life of the two men since they were abducted by terrorists from the Nova Music Festival near Re’im.
Herkin, who was 35 at the time of her kidnapping, has a three -year -old daughter and was the main supplier of her 11 -year -old mother and brother. He attended the Nova festival by chance, invited by friends at the last minute. It was the first time he went to a rave.
Maxim Herkin, caught in captivity from the Nova desert rave on October 7, 2023 by Hamas terrorists (courtesy)
In February, a leader of Hamas said that Herkin would be prioritized during the second stage of the agreement with the hostage, if it were to be signed, as a gesture for the Russian government. However, the agreement between Israel and Hamas collapsed after its first stage, Israel renewing the fighting in Gaza last month.
Including Herkin and Kupershtein, 24 hostages would still be alive for 59 hostages in total which remain in captivity in Gaza.
