MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. The correspondent for the Japanese newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun, detained on suspicion of espionage, collected information about participants in the special military operation among residents of the Kuril Islands, an FSB official said in a video comment.
"Our painstaking work established with certainty that the Japanese citizen used his journalistic status as a cover to go far beyond its legitimate bounds. Acting on the instructions of the national intelligence service, he collected and stored information about the number of mobilized and volunteer participants in the special military operation among residents of the Kuril Islands, intending to pass it on to the relevant Japanese authorities," the official said
According to him, it has been documented that the Japanese correspondent repeatedly assigned local citizens specific tasks to collect relevant data, fully aware that the information was classified and could not be disclosed, including in the media.
The FSB, "having carefully studied the intentions and activities of the Japanese subject, which were uncharacteristic of an accredited journalist and who admitted to his close circle to having contacts with Japanese intelligence," decided to halt his unlawful activities, since "the acquisition of the information he collected by a foreign state would cause real damage to the defense capability of our country," the official said.
According to him, since the suspect’s actions bear all the hallmarks of espionage, a criminal case has been opened against him under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (espionage), followed by his detention.