Special Representative of the Russian President for the Middle East and African Countries, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Bogdanov told reporters that the Hamas leadership promised to release two Russian citizens held in the Gaza Strip, but this requires at least a temporary ceasefire.
“We still have two hostages from among Russian citizens. We raised these questions very actively, energetically with the Hamas people so that they would release Russian citizens outside of the deal. They always promised us this and confirmed their readiness to do this, but for this they physically need to stop fire at least for a while so that they (Hamas) can <…> hand over to the International Committee of the Red Cross,” TASS quotes Bogdanov.