Kremlin hosts Hamas official to discuss potential hostage release

This article was originally published in Russian

The deputy head of the political wing of Hamas, Musa Abu Marzouk, has visited Moscow to discuss the potential release of Russian nationals being held hostage in Gaza.

He met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who also serves as Vladimir Putin’s special representative for the Middle East.

According to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement relayed via state-controlled media, the two men discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip and “the readiness of Russian diplomacy to continue promoting the consolidation of Palestinian political forces and movements on the political platform of the Palestine Liberation Organisation”.

Abu Marzouk is listed by the US government as a “specially designated global terrorist”.

In an interview with Russian state media, he said Hamas could “prioritise the release of two Russian hostages, but as part of an exchange deal with Israel”.

Abu Marzouk claimed that the two Russians being held in the Gaza Strip are both military servicemembers; one of them, Alexander Trufanov, is supposedly being held by the radical Islamist movement Islamic Jihad and was captured during fighting in the area.

However, Israeli media have reported that Trufanov was captured by Hamas fighters along with relatives in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel during the brutal attack on Israel on 7 October of last year, in which some 1,200 people were killed.

Abu Marzouk claimed that the second of the Russian nationals remaining with Hamas was Maxim Harkin. Marzouk said that Harkin’s family “travelled to Russia and obtained citizenship for him in order for Russia to help them free him.”

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are both recognised as terrorist organisations in multiple countries, but Hamas and the Kremlin have maintained a steady relationship, and a Hamas delegation travelled to Moscow just two weeks after the 7 October massacre and kidnappings.

He also said Hamas asked Russia to pressure Fatah movement chairman and PLO executive committee chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently attending the BRICS summit in Kazan, to begin talks on achieving a Palestinian unity government. Abbas met with Putin on Wednesday.

Abu Marzouk said Hamas is not asking Russia for military aid “but really needs Russia’s help, whether it is humanitarian or support in the UN Security Council”.