Tokyo, Oct. 26 (Jiji Press)–Russia’s detention of a Japanese reporter appears to be part of Moscow’s broader campaign of hostility toward Japan. Unverified reports circulated this summer that records of espionage activities in Russia had been accessed from a computer belonging to a former staff member at the Japanese Consulate-General in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in Russia’s Far East, where the reporter for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper was posted. In July, pro-government Russian media claimed on social media that hackers had stolen data from the former consular official’s computer and that it was being sold on the dark web, an internet space designed to conceal user identities. The Russian media asserted that the breach had revealed that a Japanese intelligence agency surveilled Russian nationals. Earlier that month, an employee at the Tokyo branch of Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline, had left Japan after a U.S. newspaper identified the employee as an officer working for Russian intelligence. The report by the Russian pro-government media appeared aimed at retaliation. The report portrayed the former consular official as a modern-day “ninja,” a spy in feudal Japan, who had gathered all manner of information. Still, images presented as evidence of the compromised data consisted largely of exchanges in a messaging app, apparently between ordinary individuals, dating from 2017. The material offered little of apparent value to Japan. Russian authorities may have translated domestic surveillance records into Japanese, passed them off as intelligence-gathering activities by the former consular official and leaked them to the media. Following the report, an anti-Japanese demonstration was held outside the consulate-general. Russian President Vladimir Putin then visited one of the four northwestern Pacific islands claimed by Japan for the first time in August. On Oct. 13, Russian authorities unilaterally released footage showing the Japanese reporter being detained and transferred to Moscow, seeking to portray him as a spy. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi denied on Oct. 15 that her country was conducting espionage in Russia. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
