Russia crossed a modern red line in March 2023 when it arrested Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on phony charges of espionage. Our man was released after 16 months in a trade for Germany’s release of a convicted Russian assassin. But now Vladimir Putin is doing it again, and this time the target is Japan.
Russia’s security services last week arrested Yuki Imai, of the Hokkaido Shimbun, on Sakhalin Island, reportedly as he was preparing to leave the country. The island is off Russia’s coast north of Japan, and Hokkaido is Japan’s largest northern island. Russian security police accused Mr.
Imai of reporting on Russian soldiers taking part in live-fire bombing exercises over the Kuril Islands. They say he was working for Japan’s national intelligence service, which the newspaper and the Tokyo government deny. Putin visited the islands, which Russia captured in 1945 and whose legitimate control is disputed by Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi criticized Mr. Putin’s visit—his first to the islands. Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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