Russia frees 24 Filipinos who have been held for months without charges in a Siberian city, Philippine officials say. The releases follow a meeting between Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and President Vladimir Putin, during which Marcos raised concerns about the detainees after they had been reported detained in Irkutsk. Officials from the Philippines state that the group is scheduled to arrive in Manila on two flights early on Sunday, with the first batch expected to be welcomed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro, who accompanied Marcos during his talks in Russia.
The reports also indicate that some of the detainees may have been connected to illegal job recruitment. However, the sources do not provide further details about any allegations or legal proceedings in Russia. Multiple outlets describe the detentions as occurring without charges and lasting for months before the releases. The accounts align on the number of people freed, the general location in Siberia, the timing in relation to Marcos’s Putin meeting, and the planned return to the Philippines.
