Authorities in Russia's Sakhalin region have detained Yuki Imai, a correspondent for the Japanese newspaper "Hokkaido Shimbun", on charges of engaging in intelligence activities. The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia reported the arrest on Tuesday. "As a result of operational search measures, it was established that he collected and stored information related to the country's defence capability, with the aim of passing it on, on the instructions of the national intelligence service, for use against the security of the Russian Federation," the agency said in a statement.
The FSB's public relations centre released video footage of the journalist's detention. The images show masked security officers bursting into a hotel room, handcuffing a man lying face down on the floor. They then spell out the grounds for his detention, conduct a search, escort the suspect out of the building and accompany him to the aircraft ramp.
In the video, one of the officers claims that the journalist allegedly gathered data on the recruitment of mobilised soldiers and contract servicemen from among Kuril Islands residents for the war in Ukraine. It is known that Yuki Imai has already been transported to Moscow. The Lefortovo court has authorised his arrest, a measure that will remain in force "for at least two months".
For this period he will be held in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention centre. Russia's foreign ministry announced (source in Russian) that a criminal case has been opened against the "Hokkaido Shimbun" employee under article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code, which covers espionage. The trial is scheduled to begin on 12 December.
Under this article, the Japanese journalist faces between 10 and 20 years in prison. As Russian media report (source in Russian), Yuki Imai is 34 years old. He holds accreditation from Russia's foreign ministry and has been travelling to the country since at least 2014.
This summer he was in Primorsky Krai, taking part in an expedition to former camps where Japanese prisoners of war were held during the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945. In September he was preparing a piece for "Hokkaido Shimbun" on the unveiling in Khabarovsk of a monument to "victory in the Great Patriotic War over militarist Japan". In October his latest article, on the presence of North Koreans in the region, was published.
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