Russia Says Consular Meeting With Detained Japanese Reporter Was Timely; Tokyo Had Sought Access in Four Days

Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that a consular meeting with a detained Japanese newspaper reporter was held properly and promptly, Kyodo News reported — but Japanese diplomats met the Hokkaido Shimbun reporter nearly two weeks after his October 13 detention in Sakhalin on suspicion of espionage, an allegation Japan rejects. Tokyo is demanding his immediate release.

Awaaz Punjab Investigations Desk29 October 20264 min readRead in all 3 languages

Russia has said a consular meeting between Japanese diplomats and a detained Japanese journalist was held properly, Kyodo News reported, in a growing diplomatic row over a Hokkaido Shimbun reporter held in Moscow on suspicion of espionage — an allegation Japan rejects.

Source: Kyodo News via The Japan Times

At a news conference on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the meeting was arranged immediately after the necessary procedures were completed and within the established time frame, Kyodo reported. She did not mention a provision of the Japan-Russia consular convention that provides for consular access to a detainee within four days.

The Japanese government said on Monday that officials from the Japanese Embassy in Moscow had met the reporter at the Lefortovo pretrial detention centre in eastern Moscow, nearly two weeks after he was detained, and confirmed that his health was not in jeopardy, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry and NHK, as reported by Aju Press. Three diplomats took part in the meeting, Zakharova said — a minister-counsellor, a counsellor and the head of the consular section.

Source: Aju Press

Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, said it detained the reporter in the Sakhalin region in the Russian Far East on October 13. The FSB alleges that he was gathering information on troops mobilised for Russia's military operations in Ukraine from the Kuril Islands. That allegation has not been established as fact, and Japan has rejected the suggestion that the reporter is a spy.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said it will continue to strongly demand the reporter's immediate release, humanitarian consideration and fair treatment, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has previously said the Japanese government has never engaged in espionage activities within Russia. Reports say the reporter remains in custody while the investigation continues, with pretrial detention scheduled until December 12.

The case is especially sensitive because four islands in the northwestern Pacific are at the centre of a long-standing territorial dispute between Japan and Russia — Japan calls them the Northern Territories — and the two countries have never signed a formal peace treaty after the Second World War.

Sources