Putin tells freed Russian hostage to thank Hamas for ‘humanitarian act’ of releasing him after 500 days in captivity

Vladimir Putin met with freed Russian-Israeli hostage Sasha Troufanov, who spent nearly 500 days in captivity in Gaza, and urged him to thank his Hamas captors for the “humanitarian act” of releasing him. “The fact that you managed to go free is the result of the fact that Russia has stable, long-term relations with the Palestinian people, with its representatives, and with a wide variety of organizations,” the Russian president told Troufanov at the Kremlin, where he was joined by his mother, Elena Trufanova, and partner, Sapir Cohen, who were also both abducted by Hamas. “I think we need to...