New York, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Russia detained a Japanese reporter as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “game of intimidation and hostage-taking,” The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial in its Wednesday edition. Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, last week announced the detention of the reporter for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper in Sakhalin in the country’s Far East on suspicion of espionage. “The reporter is probably another pawn in Mr. Putin’s game of intimidation and hostage-taking,” the WSJ said, noting that a WSJ reporter was released in a prisoner swap 16 months after being arrested in Russia on espionage charges. Referring to Japan’s refusal to extradite Tomoko Akane, the Japanese president of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin, the WSJ said Russia may “think it’s a ripe moment to pressure Japan for this human trade.” Russia may also think the time is ripe to pressure Japan to ease its sanctions on the country at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to become Putin’s best friend, the WSJ said. The detention of the Japanese reporter “is another example of the way Mr. Putin seeks to harass friends of the United States and sow division in the West’s alliances,” the paper said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
