Tass news agency reported that a Japanese diplomat called Motoki Tatsunori was arrested in Russia by its Federal Security Service (FSB) as he was suspected of spying.
Declaring the official person non grata, the FSB said the diplomat was based in the eastern city of Vladivostok.
The FSB said in a statement, “A Japanese diplomat was detained red-handed while receiving classified information, in exchange for money, about Russia’s cooperation with another country in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Ordering the diplomat to leave the country within 48 hours, the Russian foreign ministry said the official had been soliciting information about “the impact of Western sanctions” on the eastern Primorsky region.
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Through diplomatic channels, the FSB lodged a protest with Tokyo and released a short video of the diplomat acknowledging that he had violated Russian laws.
Meanwhile, another man who was the top manager of an aviation factory was detained on suspicion of passing secret military information to Ukraine.
Citing the FSB federal security agency, the agencies said that the man was suspected of taking photographs of equipment from Russia’s fighter planes and sending them to a Ukrainian citizen who worked at a Ukrainian aviation plant. As a result, a treason case has been opened against the suspect by the Federal Security Service.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the relations between Russia and Japan have further deteriorated and they both have traded tit-for-tat sanctions and expulsions of diplomats.
Before the invasion of Ukraine, Tokyo had complex relations with Moscow because of the long-running dispute over islands controlled by Russia.
(With inputs from agencies)
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