Photo/Illutration Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi addresses reporters in Tokyo on Sept. 27. (Nen Satomi)

Japan is protesting Russia’s decision to detain a Japanese diplomat and expel him from the country on allegations he had obtained classified information.

Russia’s foreign ministry announced on Sept. 26 that it ordered a Japanese consul in Vladivostok to leave the country within 48 hours because he “undermined Russia’s interest concerning its security by undertaking an action incompatible with a consul’s duties.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said the consul was detained on trumped-up charges and maintained he had not engaged in any illegal activity.

Hayashi said on Sept. 27 that the consul was blindfolded while Russian officers held both his hands and his head as he was taken in for questioning. Hayashi said the consul was then “subjected to a coercive interrogation.”

“This is an obvious and serious violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” he said. “It is extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable.”

The consul has already been released by Russia.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a Sept. 27 news conference that the consul is in good health and added the diplomat will leave Russia by Sept. 28.

Takeo Mori, a vice minister at the Foreign Ministry, had meanwhile summoned Russian Ambassador Mikhail Galuzin on Sept. 27 and lodged a strong complaint over the matter.

According to the Russian News Agency TASS, the country’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the detention of the Japanese consul on Sept. 26.

The FSB said the consul had “received, in exchange for financial reward, restricted information about Russia’s cooperation with another country in the Asia-Pacific region and the impacts of sanctions by Europe and United States on the economy in (Russia’s) Far East region.”

Analysts believe Russia has lashed out at the Japanese consul because it has adopted a combative stance toward countries opposing its military conduct toward Ukraine.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Japan joined Western countries in imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Russia and froze President Vladimir Putin’s assets in Japan.

Russia retaliated by designating Japan as a hostile country, along with European countries and the United States.

In May, it banned 63 people, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, from entering Russia. It also announced in July that 384 of Japan’s Lower House members are not allowed to enter the country.

More recently, Russian forces have been forced into a retreat following a fierce counterattack by Ukraine in the southern and northeastern parts of the country, a situation that has once again driven Putin to threaten deploying nuclear weapons.

Related News