Russia detains Japanese journalist on suspicion of spying
Por Reuters — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Russia World Russia & Central Asia Russia detains Japanese journalist on suspicion of spying
The Hokkaido Shimbun correspondent, whose name was given as Imai Yuki, is accused of collecting intelligence on Russian defence capabilities
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Reuters Published: 6:08am, 14 Oct 2026
Russia’s FSB security agency said on Tuesday it had detained a Japanese journalist for alleged espionage, and Moscow’s foreign ministry said it regretted that Tokyo was using correspondents to carry out spying.
In a statement on its website, the FSB said the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper journalist was detained in the far eastern Sakhalin region on the day before he planned to leave Russia. It did not specify when this was.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a statement identified the journalist as Imai Yuki, according to the Russian transliteration of his name, and said his detention cast a new pall on relations with Tokyo.
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