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Japanese man held in Russia for trying to gather secret data worked for Kyodo

Kyodo confirmed that on December 25, 2019 its correspondent, who was carrying out a journalistic investigation about Russian authorities, was detained in Vladivostok by local law enforcement personnel

TOKYO, January 28. /TASS/. A Japanese national, who was detained in Russia in December when attempting to obtain secret data on Moscow’s military potential, worked for Kyodo news agency.

On Tuesday, Kyodo confirmed that on December 25, 2019 its correspondent, who was carrying out a journalistic investigation about Russian authorities, was detained in Vladivostok by local law enforcement personnel.

On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS that Moscow had lodged a protest to Japanese diplomats over actions by a citizen of Japan detained in December upon an attempt to gather secret data on Russia’s military potential in the Far East. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned a counsellor-envoy of the Japanese embassy in Moscow and handed him a note of protest over the unlawful acts by the Japanese citizen.

Russia issued the Japanese citizen caught red-handed an official warning about the inadmissibility of actions that create conditions for committing a crime stipulated in article 276 of Russia’s Criminal Code. He was given 72 hours to leave the Russian territory. The following day the Japanese citizen staying in Russia under a journalist’s visa left for his home country.

According to the report, the Japanese national was questioned and five hours later he was released and left the country. Kyodo insists that the correspondent was engaged in routine journalistic activity.

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