Japan dispatches senior envoy to Moscow to demand release of detained journalist

Japan dispatched its senior Europe envoy, Kimitake Nakamura, to Moscow to request consular access and the swift release of journalist Yuki Imai, arrested on Sakhalin Island on accusations of conducting espionage. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara publicly stated the request and noted that Japan had summoned Russian Ambassador Nikolay Nozdrev to lodge a formal protest. In talks with Lyudmila Vorobyova, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's East Asia department, the diplomats also discussed the overall difficult state of bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi rejected claims that Japan conducts spying in Russia, while the Hokkaido Shimbun emphasized its editorial independence. The case adds to a pattern of Russia detaining citizens of countries it deems unfriendly, amid ongoing territorial disputes over the southern Kuril islands and Japan's sanctions over the Ukraine war.