Russian ambassador meets with freed hostage Sasha Troufanov, gives him new passport

Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov met with freed hostage Sasha Troufanov in Israel Saturday, just hours after Troufanov’s release from 498 days in the captivity of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in Gaza.

The meeting took place at Sheba Medical Center in central Israel, where the Russian-Israeli Troufanov, 29, was taken after an initial checkup in an army facility near the Gaza border, following his release, along with two other Israeli captives, as part of an ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group.

“Anatoly Viktorov sincerely welcomed the release of our compatriot,” read a statement from the Russian embassy.

It emphasized that “Russian diplomats did not stop their efforts to free Alexander [Sasha] Troufanov for a single day. They were in constant contact with the Israeli and all interested parties in the region on this priority issue.”

The embassy stressed that the diplomatic endeavors were carried out “on the instruction of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.”

During the meeting, at which Troufanov’s mother Elena was also present, Viktorov presented Troufanov with a new Russian passport, that “he, for obvious reasons, was unable to receive on time.”

Russian diplomats have engaged in talks with Hamas officials for the release of its citizens, and warned the terror group earlier this month to keep its “promises” to release Troufanov, as well as hostage Maxim Herkin, an Israeli man from the Donbas area of Ukraine who has Russian relatives.

On October 7, 2023, terrorists dragged Troufanov, 29, to Gaza as a hostage, along with three members of his family — grandmother Irena Tati, mother Yelena (Lena) and his girlfriend Sapir Cohen — from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Troufanov was held alone in captivity, as was the case with freed hostages Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yehoud, both of whom had also been held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was barely exposed to television or radio in captivity, and had no idea that his family was fighting for his release.

However, he heard the radio at the time during an earlier weeklong truce in November 2023, and discovered that his mother and girlfriend had been released from captivity. His grandmother had also been taken hostage and also was released after some 50 days in captivity.

Sasha Troufanov was freed Saturday along with Sagui Dekel-Chen and Iair Horn, who were also kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and who were then held by Hamas in Gaza.

In exchange for the hostages released, Israel freed some 369 Palestinian security inmates, including 333 Palestinians who had been detained in Gaza during the war and 36 terrorists who had been serving life sentences, including for multiple murders.

Seventy of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas has so far released 24 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals — during the ceasefire that began in January.

The terror group freed 105 civilians during the weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.