Netherlands – The Moscow Times, November 15, 2024
Russia’s Foreign Minister on Friday called on Palestinian militants to release two Russian-Israeli hostages after one of them appeared in a video earlier this week.
Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group allied with Hamas, released a video on Wednesday of Alexander Trufanov, who was forcibly taken to Gaza amid the Hamas-led attack on Israel last October.
In the video, the bearded Trufanov spoke in Hebrew about Israeli military operations in Lebanon and urged Israelis to put pressure on the government to secure the release of hostages.
“We reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians in the hands of Palestinian groups, first and foremost of our compatriots Trufanov and [Maxim] Kharkin,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
