haha - funny, I was actually going to post this myself but didn't want to waste one of my 'new topic' slots because....
If it doesn't sound right, it probably isn't right.
8,000.... or 17??
Even though I understand that the Philippine Daily Inquirer is a well-regarded and reliable newspaper which stated in the OP article...
more than 8,000 Filipino Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
Hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia are affected
As stan livedeath writes above, 8,000 JWs in Russia sounds like a lot, an awful lot!
Seems like The Moscow Times reveals that the OP article is probably badly written because in a 2015 article it stated:
In 2004, there were 2,010 Filipino nationals in Russia. In 2013, that
number had soared to 4,335, according to the most recent statistics
from the Commission of Filipinos Overseas, a Filipino government agency
that monitors migration.
Local Filipinos said the current number is probably much higher —
they estimate Russia houses around 8,000 Filipinos, if unregistered
migrants are taken into account. About 93 percent of all the Filipinos
in Russia live in Moscow, said Lalunio.
https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/moscows-filipino-domestic-staff-no-longer-an-expat-preserve-50725
So actually around 8,000 Filipinos in total
in Russia - hence the following line in the OP article regarding "hundreds being affected", but even that TBH is suspect - the publisher ratio in the Philippines is 1-in-483, so out of 8,000 that would actually make only 17 Filipino JWs in Russia.
Or in other words, using the same publisher ratio, there would need to be around 385,000 Filipinos in Russia in order for there to be 8,000 JWs. (btw there are just over 200,000 JWs in the Philippines)
Therefore the OP's article just didn't add up as being correct for me, but, hey ho! I might be wrong of course....
Ah, the joys of Fact Checking!