Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has met Russian nationals freed from captivity in the Gaza Strip after Hamas’s October 2023 attacks on Israel and said Moscow’s longstanding ties with Palestinians helped secure their freedom, Reuters reports.

“The fact that you are now free is a result of Russia’s many years of stable relations with the Palestinian people, with the representatives of different organisations,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin as telling former hostage Alexander Trufanov and members of his family.

“Here we have to offer a word of gratitude to the leadership and to the political wing of Hamas for a gesture made to us in carrying out this humanitarian act,” the agencies said he told the late-night Kremlin meeting.

Russia, Putin said, “had truly done everything possible” to secure Trufanov’s liberation and would undertake whatever was necessary to ensure those still in captivity would be freed.

Trufanov was freed after nearly 500 days in captivity in February as part of talks leading to a ceasefire. He thanked Putin for helping secure his release and hoped for the release of all remaining hostages whom he viewed “like brothers”.