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Rodolfo Antonio Chico Ketterer, a Chilean from the La Araucanía region, has been unreachable since June 21. Russian authorities told Chile he signed a military service contract on June 3.
- His father says he expected a military police course, and that in their last conversation his son said he had been deceived and was on the front line. That account has not been independently verified.
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Chile's consulate in Moscow has asked Russia for his whereabouts and plans a new approach. His location and condition remain unconfirmed.
A Chilean man who left for Russia in May after a reported online job pitch is now listed by Russian authorities as a soldier under contract. His family has had no news of him for more than three months. According to this report, the man is Rodolfo Antonio Chico Ketterer, who was reported at 30 years old and from Cunco.
What Russian Authorities Told Chile
Information passed on through Chile's Foreign Ministry states that Chico Ketterer signed a military service agreement on June 3. The same record says that from July 1 he was placed under the orders of a commander in a unit based in the Moscow military district. The stated reason was an absence of more than ten days for reasons that were not explained.
A Job Pitch Whose Story Keeps Shifting
The offer, allegedly found on TikTok, covered his trip, lodging and meals, plus a signing bonus of more than 25 million Chilean pesos. Other accounts of the family's story differ. Emol says the father recalls his son telling the family in May about a job in Turkey, which was why he needed a passport. Only once he was already traveling, the father says, did Rodolfo admit he would take a military police course in the Russian army.
The father, Juan Chico Alarcón, told Página 7 that the Russian government appeared to have paid for the flights, and that the speed of the arrangements struck him as odd. He also says his son once mentioned that Russian law bars foreigners from fighting.
What the Father Says Happened Next
Chico Alarcón describes military police duty as garrison work meant to keep order, not fighting. He argues his son was misled about what he was signing up for.
According to Emol, the father says that in their final exchange in June, Rodolfo told him he had been deceived and was at the front. The father believes his son was sent into combat soon afterward. He bases that on a photo of Rodolfo with a Panamanian man, shown in a television interview about the war. None of this has been independently confirmed. The father also reads the Russian wording about an unexplained absence as a possible sign that his son is being held, and says the family is clinging to hope that he is alive.
Three Months Without Contact
The family last heard from Rodolfo on June 21, the father told Página 7, and he describes the silence as a little over three months. Before that, the father says, his son sent photos and described being treated well, and he told the family he was safe during their first weeks of contact.
The father says his first appeals to politicians drew no reply. He then posted on Facebook, where a man in Argentina offered to contact an acquaintance who has lived in Moscow for about 25 years. That contact phoned him in the early hours of June 23, two days after the last message, and visited Chile's consulate. The consulate, according to the father, only sent the family back to the Foreign Ministry in Santiago, which he called disappointing.
More recently, he says, a reply to one of his emails came addressed to his son's name, which left him doubting it had been read closely. He adds that staff at the Russian embassy in Chile refuse to answer calls in Spanish.
What the Chilean Government Says
The Foreign Ministry told BioBioChile that its Moscow consulate had already asked Russian authorities where Chico Ketterer is, and that it will make a fresh inquiry. It told Emol the consulate has been in touch with Russia's foreign ministry to present the case and request information. The father says he is waiting for the government to act more firmly.
BioBioChile notes that a similar situation has surfaced in Peru. In August, Peru's Foreign Ministry acknowledged that at least 459 Peruvians had been recruited to go to Russia, apparently through deception, and some were sent to the war. It reported at least 11 deaths, 114 people missing and three held prisoner by Ukraine.
What Remains Unknown
No official source has said where Chico Ketterer is or what condition he is in. It is also unclear what he understood when he signed. The documented points are a contract dated June 3, an assignment to a unit in the Moscow area from July 1, and no contact since June 21. His father says he will keep pressing Chilean authorities until he hears from his son directly.
