Japanese Journalist Arrested in Russia on Suspicion of Spying
A Japanese journalist has been arrested in Russia and accused of gathering information on its defence capabilities, news agencies reported on October 13.
The reporter, who worked for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper but has not been named, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the far eastern Sakhalin region as he was preparing to leave Russia, Interfax reported. The FSB said he was flown to Moscow and put behind bars, and released a video showing masked agents arresting him. He was later seen in a cage at a Moscow court hearing, during which a judge ordered him to be held in custody for two months.
The FSB said it had "thwarted the illegal activity" of the journalist, stating that he had gathered and stored information related to the country's defence capabilities in order to pass it on for intelligence purposes against the security of the Russian Federation.
Russia considers Japan an "unfriendly" country, as Japan has joined Western sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. The two countries never signed a formal peace treaty ending World War Two and remain embroiled in a territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories; Russia's Sakhalin region includes the four southernmost Kuril islands.
(Source: News agency reports, October 13, 2026)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 莫斯科克里姆林宫与莫斯科河，Pavel Kazachkov摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 2.0
