TOKYO: Japan’s top government spokesman called for the immediate release of a Japanese journalist detained in Russia for suspected spying, as Moscow denies access to the individual by consular officials.
Russian authorities said last week that Hokkaido Shimbun reporter Yuki Imai was arrested in the Sakhalin region after collecting information related to Russia’s defensive capabilities.
Japan dispatched a senior Foreign Ministry official to Moscow for talks with his counterparts on Tuesday (Oct 20) but Russia has yet to provide access to the detained journalist, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.
"The government will continue to strongly urge the Russian side to grant consular access as soon as possible and, above all, to immediately release the Japanese national, as well as to ensure humanitarian consideration and fair and equitable treatment,” Kihara said.
The journalist was picked up a day before he was due to leave Russia, local authorities said last week. Hokkaido Shimbun, one of Japan’s major regional newspapers, is based in Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido, which lies close to Russia’s Far East.
US Ambassador to Japan George Glass sharply criticised the arrest on Wednesday in a post on social media.
"As a nation that holds freedom of expression to be a cornerstone of any free and vibrant society, the United States condemns Imai-san’s detention and Russia’s refusal to allow Japanese diplomats to visit him,” Glass wrote on X.
Tense relations between Japan and Russia have further deteriorated in recent months after Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit in August to a string of islands close to Hokkaido that were seized by the Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II.
Russia has been angered by Japan’s backing for Ukraine, including financial and non-lethal military support.
On a recent visit to the United Nations in New York, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held her first summit meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Tokyo imposed new sanctions on Russia on Oct. 2, citing "the situation involving Ukraine.” - Bloomberg
