Russia and Japan: In handcuffs straight to Moscow

In the video, the journalist has to turn on his notebook for the men and unlock his cell phone. The FSB films his passport, the contents of his suitcase, he films the interrogation and the journey to the airport. The Japanese man is taken to Moscow in handcuffs, indicating that the arrest warrant came directly from the Russian capital.

Medvedev demanded that “the exchange fund be replenished with European and American idiots.”

His face is pixelated in the video, but Russian news agencies published the prisoner's name: Yuki Imai, 34 years old, a correspondent for the Japanese regional newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun and officially accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry. Nevertheless, the FSB now accuses him of “espionage for the benefit of a Japanese secret service”. Yuki Imai allegedly collected information about participants in the “special military operation,” the FSB claims, i.e. about fighters in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

It is not the first time since Moscow's open attack on Ukraine that it has imprisoned an accredited foreign journalist. In 2023, the FSB arrested American Evan Gershkovich, who was later sentenced to 16 years in prison for alleged espionage. Gershkovich was released in 2024 as part of a major prisoner exchange. Vladimir Putin was thus able to free Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in Berlin in 2021.

It is no secret that the Kremlin sometimes uses prisoners as leverage for its political goals. One must “fill up the exchange fund with European and American idiots,” wrote Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Putin’s Security Council, on Telegram just last week. Shortly before, a well-known Russian war blogger was arrested in Montenegro and later deported to Russia.

From Russia's perspective, Japan is also one of the "unfriendly states", just like the USA and Germany. There is no doubt in Tokyo that the arrest is a punitive action by Moscow. The only question is who should be punished for what. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said in Tokyo on Friday morning that the Japanese government had not yet managed to contact the Hokkaido Shimbun reporter.

Not far away are the Kuril Islands, which Japan claims as its own

Shimbun simply means daily newspaper in Japanese, while Hokkaido is the northernmost of Japan's main islands and is closest to Russia; Depending on the offshore island, it is only a few kilometers. The Self-Defense Forces (SDF), as the powerful Japanese army is called after a peace commitment since the end of the Second World War, have stationed large contingents of troops here. It was only in September that the SDF and the allied US Army held exercises called “Orient Shield” on Hokkaido.

The Russian Foreign Ministry protested at the time against the exercises, in which the Japanese and American armies used mobile US Himars missile systems, which can be quickly moved to new locations by truck and are delivered to both Ukraine and Taiwan. Russia threatened countermeasures.

The Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, on the other hand, a rather liberal, traditional daily newspaper which, in addition to its online edition, sells around 700,000 copies a day according to the publisher, is of course interested in reporting from the part of Russia where Yuki Imai was traveling. Sakhalin is so close that it can be seen with the naked eye from the northernmost point of mainland Japan, editor-in-chief Takeshi Yamamoto wrote in a statement on Friday: “For us, being firmly anchored on the ground and reporting from neighboring Russia means communicating the region.”

Sakhalin is Russia's largest island in the North Pacific. Not far away are the Kuril Islands, and they play a special role in Japan's relationship with Russia, which occupied the island chain after Japan's defeat in World War II. Tokyo, on the other hand, continues to view the Kuril Islands, where there are huge oil deposits, as Japanese. It refers to them as the “Northern Territories.” The dispute is not new, but it has intensified significantly this year. Probably mainly because Japan supports Ukraine in its defense against Russia.

The editor-in-chief of the Japanese newspaper rejects the Russian accusation

“Especially in such times, however, we felt it was necessary for a newspaper that continues to be in contact with Russia to report on the situation and changes in the Far East,” editor-in-chief Yamamoto wrote on Friday. He rejects Russian accusations of espionage, saying the Hokkaido Shimbun is a news organization independent of the government. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also contradicted the suspicion of espionage: “There is no such matter,” she told reporters on Thursday.

Yuki Imai's last text to date, published on October 5th, was about the North Korean residents on Sakhalin. The Kuril Islands are also not far from North Korea. Pyongyang, in turn, is sending soldiers to the war against Ukraine for Russia. And Japan is massively increasing its own defense spending in view of the increased threat from Russia, North Korea and China, all of which are in the immediate vicinity.

The Kremlin can't like that. Tokyo refuses to address "Moscow's concerns about the remilitarization of Japan," a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said after Imai's arrest. The incident on Sakhalin will further sour the relationship. Japan is trying to use its correspondents to gather information and thereby “undermine the security of our state,” she claimed.

Tokyo summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the arrest. Japan's Foreign Ministry calls for "fair and impartial treatment" of Yuki Imai. He was initially detained in custody for two months. Usually in Russia this is extended until the trial.