Simona Halperin, Israel’s ambassador in Moscow, said today (Thursday) that “we are working together with the authorities in Russia to release a hostage with Russian citizenship and two other hostages without Russian citizenship, all three of whom are not in the first stage of the deal, but the Russian Federation is concerned about their fate.”Halperin added: “I really hope that the Russian side will really be able to help with this, I really believe that if the Russian side insists enough, it will be able to bring about their release.”
The Russian ambassador said this week Anatoly Viktorov that:Hamas promised to release Sasha Trupanov in the first installment of the deal. His condition is fine, but not positive.” At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the National Security Council meeting that he instructed the Russian Foreign Ministry to do everything for the release of the abductee, who has Russian citizenship, Maxim Harkin.
In two days, the second phase of the deal for the release of the abductees is expected to take place, in which a civilian and three female soldiers, held captive by Hamas, are expected to be released. This, after the release of captivity survivors Romi Gonen, Emily Demari and Doron Steinbracher last Sunday.