Japanese Foreign Ministry officials traveled to Moscow this week in an effort to reach jailed journalist Yuki Imai, who has been detained in Russia on espionage charges.
Imai, a 34‑year‑old correspondent for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, was taken into custody on 14 October by Russia’s FSB security service in Yuzhno‑Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island. Television footage showed FSB agents breaking into his hotel room while he slept.
Russian authorities accuse him of attempting to gather information about military personnel near the Kiril islands, a region that sits at the heart of the long‑standing Japan‑Russia territorial dispute. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison, according to the International Federation of Journalists, which has called for his immediate release.
Imai has been transferred to Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison and placed in pre‑trial detention until at least 12 December. Japanese embassy officials in Moscow have been denied access to him. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has condemned the arrest and rejected the spy allegations.
Russia accuses journalists of being ‘spies’
Yoji Gomi, an experienced Asia correspondent, notes that Japanese journalists sometimes meet diplomats as part of their work. “One‑party nations often see foreign correspondents as spies because that is exactly what they use their journalists for,” he said. He added that Russia’s decision to label Imai a spy makes sense given the geopolitical sensitivities of the area, which also hosts many North Korean laborers.
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Stephen Nagy, a professor of international relations at Tokyo’s International Christian University, suggests Russia may be using Imai as leverage in a potential prisoner exchange. He doubts Japan will yield, warning that such a precedent would allow any country to seize Japanese nationals on espionage charges.
“It would set a dangerous precedent,” he told DW. “They are going to resist because it means that Russia, or any other country, can then just seize a Japanese national, put them on trial for espionage and demand the release of one of their people.”
The detention follows the arrest in Japan of a member of the Russia‑linked hacking group “Qilin,” who was extradited to Germany over a 2024 cyberattack on a logistics center. The last journalist arrest in Russia prior to Imai’s case occurred in 2019, though that individual was quickly released.
Imai’s situation is the most serious since the 2023 arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was sentenced to 16 years before being freed in a 2024 prisoner swap. A figure captioning Gershkovich’s court appearance is shown below.
Strained Japan‑Russia ties
Nagy said Imai’s seizure is intended to pressure Tokyo and is part of a coordinated effort with China to isolate Japan while the United States is focused on domestic matters and the Middle East conflict.
“Moscow and Beijing are coordinating to create the image that Japan is not a reformed member of the international community but still the military state of the 1930s and that it poses a threat to stability in the Indo‑Pacific region,” he explained. “This is all designed to smear Japan’s efforts to lead diplomacy in the region at a time when the US is perhaps distracted.”
Decades‑long row over disputed islands
Tadashi Anno, a politics professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, notes that Japan has strived to maintain stable relations with Moscow, even after joining the international condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He finds Russia’s timing in escalating pressure puzzling.
“Japan condemned the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 because it was a fundamental violation of international law, but Russia is only now pushing back hard,” he told DW. The core of the deteriorating ties is the territorial dispute over the Northern Territories (Southern Kurils) seized by Soviet forces after World II.
Historical diplomatic pushes aimed at persuading Russia to return the islands have faltered in recent years, especially after Japan announced plans to join a NATO‑led initiative to provide non‑lethal aid to Ukraine. In August, President Vladimir Putin became only the second Russian leader to visit the islands, and a Chinese business delegation has been welcomed there for potential economic cooperation.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn