By Aleksandra Yagodkina
Published on
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.
Who is Yuki Imai
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.
“Hokkaido Shimbun” is considered a major outlet in Japan. The newspaper covers events on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, as well as relations between Russia, Japan and North Korea.
This is the first arrest of an employee of a foreign media organisation since 2024, when, as part of a large-scale prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, American journalist for The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich was freed. He had previously been sentenced to 16 years in prison on similar espionage charges.
Back in 2019, Russian security services detained in Vladivostok a Japanese reporter from the Kyodo News agency, who was also accused of intelligence-gathering. On that occasion, the journalist was ordered to leave the country within 72 hours.
Tokyo demands clarification
The Japanese government has asked Moscow to explain the circumstances and reasons for the detention of Yuki Imai.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said the Japanese side had been unable to contact him and was unaware of the arrest until it was officially announced.
“The Japanese embassy in Moscow and the Consulate General in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk have called on the Russian authorities to provide information immediately and to guarantee humane, fair and impartial treatment,” foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.
Japan’s foreign ministry plans to summon Russia’s ambassador, Nikolai Nozdriev, to lodge a protest and demand the journalist’s release, local media report, citing diplomatic sources.
An arrest amid worsening relations
Russia and Japan have been locked for decades in a dispute over the sovereignty of the Kuril Islands. Because of this, the two countries have never signed a peace treaty formally ending the Second World War.
After condemning Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Japan joined Western sanctions against Moscow in 2022.
In August this year Vladimir Putin visited the Kuril Islands for the first time, part of which Japan claims as its own territory. Tokyo responded by expressing a “strong protest”.
A week ago, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office requested that the Netherlands extradite the president of the International Criminal Court, Japanese national Tomoko Akane, a move the Japanese government described as “unacceptable” and “unfair”.