Japanese journalist arrested in Russia’s Sakhalin region on spying charges

MOSCOW (AP) — A Japanese journalist suspected of spying has been arrested on Russia’s Sakhalin Island, the top Russian domestic security agency said Tuesday.

The arrest comes amid a spike in tensions between Russia and Japan following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s August trip to the Kuril Islands, the Moscow-controlled Pacific archipelago that is claimed by both countries.

The Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the Japanese man, who worked for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, was suspected of gathering information related to Russia’s defense capability on behalf of a Japanese intelligence agency.

It said the suspect, whom it didn’t name, was arrested in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the main city on Sakhalin Island, as he was preparing to leave Russia. The agency said the suspect was flown to Moscow, where a court on Tuesday ordered him to be held behind bars pending the probe.

Russia’s Sakhalin region includes Sakhalin Island and the four southernmost islands of the Kuril chain, which Japan calls the Northern Territories. Putin visited one of them, Iturup, in August.

The Soviet Union took the Kuril Islands from Japan in the final days of World War II and the ongoing dispute has prevented the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities. Moscow has rejected Tokyo’s complaints, reaffirming that Russia’s “sovereignty and jurisdiction over the southern Kuril Islands are absolutely unshakable.”

Decades of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement haven’t produced any visible results. Moscow over the years has also bolstered its military presence on the Kurils in moves that appeared to underscore its firm stance in the dispute.