OMM Redaksiyası
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a journalist with Japan’s Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper on suspicion of espionage. The detention took place in Russia’s Far Eastern Sakhalin region before the journalist was due to leave the country.
The FSB alleged that the journalist collected and held information about Russia’s defense capabilities and planned to pass it to foreign intelligence services. The agency said it had thwarted the alleged activity. The claims have not been independently verified.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, gave the journalist’s name as Yuki Imai, based on its Russian-language spelling. She said the detention would further strain relations between Russia and Japan.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Wednesday that Japan’s embassy in Moscow and consulate general in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk had requested information from Russian officials. Japan called for its detained citizen to be treated fairly and for humanitarian considerations to be taken into account.
A representative of Hokkaido Shimbun said the newspaper was checking the information and that the journalist’s safety was its top priority.
Footage broadcast by Russian state television showed three people dressed in black and wearing masks handcuffing a person on the ground. The report said the person was suspected of espionage. Later footage showed the journalist being escorted to an aircraft by FSB officers and appearing in a cage in a Moscow court. The court ordered the journalist held for about two months.
Relations between Moscow and Tokyo remain strained
The journalist’s detention comes amid deteriorating relations between Moscow and Tokyo since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022. Moscow considers Japan an “unfriendly” country because it joined Western sanctions against Russia. Tokyo has kept the sanctions in place and continued its support for Ukraine.
The two countries also have a longstanding territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit in August to one of the islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, drew criticism in Japan. A delegation from China’s Heilongjiang province also visited the island on Tuesday.
Japan’s Cabinet approved additional sanctions against Russia this month. The measures include expanded export restrictions and the freezing of assets belonging to people linked to the Russian military.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said that communication with Russia remained necessary despite the difficult relations.
One of the most prominent cases involving foreign journalists in Russia was the 2023 detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. A Russian court convicted him of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison. Gershkovich was released in August 2024 as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries.
