Japan’s FM urges Russia to release journalist detained on Sakhalin

Tokyo, Japan - Japan's foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, made a rare face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, at the G20 summit in the US. During this encounter, Motegi strongly demanded the immediate release of Japanese journalist Yuki Imai, who is currently detained in Moscow on spying accusations. The Japanese foreign ministry announced that Motegi made this demand during their first formal meeting since 2021.

Japanese authorities claim that Imai was arrested on Sakhalin, an island in Russia's Far East, on suspicion of espionage. Despite the strained relations between the two nations, the Japanese foreign ministry emphasized that communication between the diplomats would continue, even amidst the ongoing tensions in Japan-Russia relations.

This tension stems from Japan's recent decision to join global sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, as well as a long-standing dispute over a string of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The last time the foreign ministers of Japan and Russia officially held talks was in September 2021 in New York. Since then, there have been multiple instances of the two countries clashing, such as when Russia's President Vladimir Putin visited the Kuril islands in August. The Kuril islands are a disputed territory known as the Northern Territories in Japan, which were seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. This visit marked the first time a Russian president had set foot on the islands since 2010.

Earlier this month, Japan expressed its concerns over Russia's decision to conduct missile tests off one of the disputed islands visited by Putin. These incidents highlight the ongoing difficulties in maintaining diplomatic relations between Japan and Russia.