Ex-Russian Official Referred to Prosecutors in Japan

Tokyo, Jan. 20 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo police on Tuesday sent papers on a former official of Russia’s trade representation in Japan and a former worker of a machine tool manufacturer to public prosecutors over trade secrets held by the company based in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The Public Security Bureau of Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department suspects that the two men, both in their 30s, have violated the unfair competition prevention law. The former official at the Russian trade representation is believed to be a member of a division in charge of collecting scientific and technological information at Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR. He left Japan in March last year, according to investigative sources. The SVR is an agency in charge of international intelligence, one of the successors to the Soviet-era KGB. The former worker of the machine tool manufacturer is suspected of verbally leaking trade secrets, including product development ideas, in November 2024 and February last year, with the aim of obtaining illegal profits. It is unusual to establish a case against verbal leakage of trade secrets. But the MPD apparently judged that it is important to accuse them before such information is leaked, as the cutting-edge technologies held by the company include those that can be used for military purposes. The MPD asked the Russian Embassy in Japan on Jan. 9 through Japan’s Foreign Ministry and others for the former member to appear, but there has been no response. According to investigative sources, shortly after arriving in Japan in April 2023, the former official posed as a Ukrainian national, approaching the former machine tool manufacturer worker by pretending to ask for directions. They repeatedly arranged meetings at family restaurants and similar places. The former worker held a managerial position in the sales department and initially provided product catalogs, manuals and materials related to business negotiations and internal training sessions. They met on a total of about 10 occasions, with the former worker allegedly receiving meals and entertainment, as well as cash totaling some 700,000 yen, in exchange for the information. The MPD believes the former worker became aware of the industrial espionage nature of the meetings over time but failed to sever the relationship. The two reportedly communicated exclusively in Japanese verbally during meetings, making subsequent arrangements on the spot. They are believed to have avoided phone calls or emails, a common tactic used by Russian operatives to avoid leaving traces. This marks the first case built by the MPD against alleged Russian espionage since 2020, when a former Russian diplomat in Japan was referred to prosecutors over confidential corporate information leaked by a former manager of Japanese mobile communications firm SoftBank Corp. Japanese police have built 11 such cases in total since the former Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]