Japanese government meets with Japanese journalist and consul; no health problems - Russian detention

The Japanese government announced on the night of the 26th that a member of the Japanese embassy in Russia had a consular interview with a Hokkaido Shimbun reporter who was detained by the Russian authorities on suspicion of being a spy. There are no health problems. The Japanese government stated, ``We strongly urge the Russian government to immediately release him, give him humanitarian consideration, and provide him with fair and impartial treatment.''

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on the 13th that it had detained a male reporter from the Hokkaido Shimbun Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk bureau in the far eastern Sakhalin region. He was transferred to Moscow, where a court ordered him to be detained for two months.

The FSB claims that the reporter collected and archived information on the number of soldiers and volunteers mobilized from the Kuril Islands (Northern Territories and Kuril Islands) to invade Ukraine. The crime of espionage is a serious crime, and if convicted, the person could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Diplomatic agreements between Japan and Russia stipulate that the right to consular visits can be exercised within four days of being detained, but this has not happened so far.