Former hostage Sasha Troufanov and his family meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin
(Video: The Kremlin )
Throughout the conversation, Putin notably refrained from using terms like “hostages” or “captivity.” In contrast, Troufanov appealed to the Russian president to continue working for the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. “They are my brothers. As long as they’re there, half my heart is in Gaza,” he told Putin, who responded by pledging that Russia “will do everything possible” to help free the remaining captives.
“I don’t want to assign political judgments,” Putin added, “but what happened to you is a great misfortune. Your release was made possible by Russia’s longstanding ties with the Palestinian people and their representatives. I believe we must thank the Hamas leadership for taking this humanitarian step and releasing you.”
Troufanov responded with a heartfelt plea for continued support. “It’s important for me to say that I’m deeply grateful for your actions that led to our release. And it’s very important to me, in this moment, that all the other hostages be freed as well — because I know how they feel. I know what it’s like to be there, how hard it is, how sad they are,” he said.
“To me, they’re like my brothers. As long as they’re there, it’s as if half my heart is still in Gaza. It will be very hard for me to return to normal life while they’re still there. I ask you to do everything you did for me — and I know you did so much — so that they too can be free and happy, sitting with their families and loved ones. That means a great deal to me.”
Troufanov’s mother, Yelena, also addressed Putin, thanking him and the Russian government for their efforts, crediting their release in November 2023 to Russia’s intervention. “I want to personally thank you and the entire Russian government for your efforts to secure our release. I know that my mother and I were freed at the end of November 2023 thanks to Russia’s efforts and your personal involvement,” she said.
“When I was released and found out that day that my husband had been murdered, and that my only son — my mother’s only grandson — had been kidnapped and was still in captivity, it marked the beginning of a very difficult period. This past year has been extremely hard for me. Throughout this time, Rabbi Lazar and the Russian Embassy in Israel supported me. We stayed in constant contact, and I knew that everything possible was being done to bring Sasha home — and here he is.”
Yelena also shared that four generations of her family had endured captivity. “Soon we will mark 80 years since the great victory in World War II. My grandmother, Sasha’s great-grandmother, was a military doctor who was wounded during the war and taken captive by the Nazis. She escaped captivity and finished the war with a partisan unit in Belarus," she shared. "Sasha is the fourth generation in our family to have been taken captive — and I hope this marks the end of our family’s story with captivity.”
In addition to Sasha Troufanov, his mother and his partner, the meeting was also attended by Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and Rabbi Alexander Boroda, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia. Sasha’s grandmother, Irina Teti, who was also kidnapped by Hamas and released in the first hostage exchange, did not attend the Kremlin meeting.
