Russia arrests Japanese reporter for espionage as dispute grows

Russian authorities said they detained a Japanese journalist on suspicion of espionage, with a court ruling that he will be held in custody for two months, the Federal Security Service said in a statement on its website.

Moscow’s Lefortovo court said Yuki Imai of the Hokkaido Shimbun should be detained until December 12, the Interfax news service reported on Tuesday.

The FSB said the reporter, who was accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry, collected and stored information related to Russia’s defense capabilities. It was then to be handed over to Japanese intelligence and for use “against the security of the Russian Federation”.

The journalist was picked up in the Far Eastern region of Sakhalin a day before he was due to leave Russia, authorities said. The Hokkaido Shimbun, one of Japan’s major regional newspapers, is based in Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido, which lies close to the Russian Far East. There was no immediate response from Tokyo.

“The incident will become another factor darkening the atmosphere in Russian-Japanese relations,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on the website. “Once again, we call on official Tokyo to reconsider and change its approach by abandoning hostile actions towards Russia.”

The arrests come at a time of rising tensions between the two nations. Last week, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office asked Dutch authorities to extradite the president of the International Criminal Court, Tomoko Akane, and eight other officials. The Japanese government called the moves “unfair and unacceptable”. Akane is on Russia’s wanted list along with other ICC officials for a 2023 warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges of war crimes in Ukraine.

Russia said on October 5 that the latest Japanese sanctions were further damaging already strained relations after Tokyo imposed restrictions on 33 Russian entities, nine individuals and, for the first time, on the shipping sector.

In August, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi protested after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the disputed territory with Japan for the first time, underscoring tensions between the countries. Putin’s visit to Iturup Island, known in Japan as Etorofu, came after Japan repeatedly urged him not to go there, Takaichi said.

This article was generated from an automated news agency source without text modification.