Russia frees 24 Filipinos after Marcos raises Irkutsk detention with Putin

Manila,UPDATED: Jun 20, 2026 22:06 IST

Russia has freed 24 Filipinos who had been detained for months without charges in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, Philippine officials said on Saturday, after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr raised the issue in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

The 24 were due to arrive in Manila on two flights early Sunday. The first batch will be received by Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro, who accompanied Marcos during his talks with Putin on Wednesday in Kazan, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said.

Marcos, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, had travelled to Kazan for events marking the 35th anniversary of ASEAN’s diplomatic relations with Russia. He also held a bilateral meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the summit.

After that meeting, Marcos told reporters he had raised concerns about the Filipinos, who had been held for about nine months in Irkutsk in southeastern Siberia without charges. He said the Philippines had no other information about their condition. Philippine officials said there were reports that the Filipinos may have been victims of illegal job recruitment and were taken into custody in Russia over possible violations of immigration laws.

According to Marcos, Putin said he was unaware of the case but promised to look into it. Marcos said that over dinner on Wednesday, the Russian president told him the Filipinos had not been charged with any wrongdoing. “Don’t worry, we will find a way to fix this problem,” Marcos quoted Putin as saying.

Marcos said the Philippine delegation was later informed by Russian officials that the Filipinos would be immediately deported to Manila. Their release came soon after Marcos took up the matter with Putin.

The Philippines is a key treaty ally of the United States in Asia and was among most ASEAN members that voted for a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Singapore was the only ASEAN member to impose sanctions on Russia, and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also attended the Kazan summit.

Philippine Ambassador to Moscow Igor Bailen said about 15,000 Filipinos live and work across Russia. The return of the 24 detainees follows Marcos’s intervention with Putin and ends months of uncertainty over their case.

With PTI Inputs

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