MOSCOW (Voice of Russia): Russia’s Federal Security Service has taken a correspondent of the Japanese newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun into custody on alleged espionage charges and moved him to Moscow.
The FSB said the suspect had been working as a correspondent for the Japanese newspaper in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, a city in Russia’s Far East.
According to the FSB, the Japanese citizen was detained in the Sakhalin region ahead of his departure from Russia, and was then transferred to Moscow.
The investigative department of Russia’s Federal Security Service has opened an espionage case against the suspect under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court has ordered that the Japanese journalist remain in custody.
The FSB said further investigation of the case and related operational measures are continuing. Russian authorities have not yet released details about the suspect’s identity or the alleged espionage activities.
There has been no immediate reaction to the matter from the Japanese government or the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper.
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