Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Russia continues contacts with Israel and Palestine for the release of kidnapped Russians, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on February 14.
“We continue our contacts. One of the main tasks - if not the main one - is to continue contacts with all interested parties so that the Russian citizens remaining hostage are released and their safety is ensured,” he said.
According to him, Russia sees the danger of expanding the conflict in the Middle East and “an explosion in the region.” Peskov noted that Israeli strikes on Rafah are fraught with a large number of casualties, and Moscow is concerned about this.
“A lot of people, a lot of Palestinians, gathered in Rafah. And striking Rafah is fraught with a multiple increase in casualties. This is a matter of particular concern for us. We are very carefully monitoring the news that comes from there,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
As Regnum reported, on October 7, 2023, Hamas took dozens of people hostage, including Russians, during an attack on the border areas of Israel. Since the beginning of the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, several exchanges have taken place.
At the end of November, Hamas representatives released several Russians as a sign of gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Politburo member Musa Abu Marzouk reported, during the prisoner exchange with Israel from the Gaza Strip, they did not release a single Israeli man, but they did release Russians.
Hamas's military wing later released two more Russian hostages in response to Moscow's request.
In early January, Al-Arabiya TV channel reported that the leadership of the Palestinian Hamas movement decided to stop any negotiations on the release of hostages after an explosion in their office in Lebanon, which killed the deputy head of the Hamas politburo, Saleh al-Arouri, and his associate. On January 2, the head of the Hamas Politburo, Ismail Haniyeh, said that the movement would release the hostages only on its own terms, and any exchange initiatives would be considered only after an Israeli ceasefire.
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