Tokyo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Kimitake Nakamura, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s European Affairs Bureau, urged Russia to allow early consular access to a Japanese journalist detained there and his immediate release during a meeting with a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official in Moscow on Tuesday. Nakamura met with Lyudmila Vorobyova, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Third Asian Department, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday that the two officials discussed “various current issues between Japan and Russia, including the detention.” Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, on Oct. 13 announced the detention of a reporter for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper in Sakhalin in the country’s Far East on suspicion of espionage. He has been in custody in Moscow. The Japanese Embassy in Moscow said Tuesday that Japanese Ambassador to Russia Akira Muto visited the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday and called for early consular access to the reporter. The access had not been given as of Tuesday, according to the embassy. A diplomatic arrangement between Japan and Russia stipulates that one country has the right to consular access to, or a meeting with, a national detained in the other country within four days of the national’s detention. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the meeting between Nakamura and Vorobyova took place at the request of Japan. Vorobyova told Nakamura that the deterioration of relations between the two countries was due to Japan’s unfriendly foreign policy toward Russia. Vorobyova added that Japan needs to renounce its anti-Russia activities and take into account Russia’s security concerns in order to normalize ties. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Tuesday that “the United States condemns any attempts to intimidate, harass, and punish journalists and independent voices,” adding, “Government censorship is intolerable in a free society.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
