Japan has demanded information from Russian authorities about the detention of Hokkaido Shimbun correspondent Yuki Imai, who is suspected by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, of espionage. Tokyo also summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the detention.
Japanese authorities said they were seeking information about the circumstances of Imai’s detention, his health and the conditions in which he is being held. Japan is also seeking consular access and has called for a fair legal process.
The FSB said the journalist was detained in Russia’s Sakhalin region. According to the Russian security service, Imai collected and stored information related to Russia’s defense capabilities for alleged transfer to Japanese intelligence.
He was detained shortly before he was expected to leave Russia and was later transferred to Moscow, where a court ordered him held in pretrial detention for nearly two months.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also accused Japan of using accredited journalists to gather intelligence. Those claims represent the position of the Russian authorities and have not yet been tested in court.
Hokkaido Shimbun said it was working to establish the circumstances of the case and considered the safety of its employee its top priority.
The detention comes amid sharply deteriorated relations between Moscow and Tokyo. Japan joined Western sanctions against Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while the two countries also remain divided by a long-running territorial dispute over the southern Kuril Islands.