Japan demanded a formal apology from Russia — and threatened retaliation — after claiming its diplomat was “blindfolded and restrained” while being interrogated by the federal security service over suspected espionage.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tatsunori Motoki, a consul based in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, had been subjected to a “coercive interrogation” at the hands of security operatives.
The security agency, known as the FSB, said Monday that Motoki was declared persona non grata and ordered to leave Russia after he was caught “red-handed” receiving secret information on the effects of Western sanctions on the economic situation in Russia’s far east.
It said the classified information, which also concerned Russia’s cooperation with an unnamed Asia-Pacific country, had been obtained in return for a “monetary reward.”
Moscow has protested to Tokyo over the consul’s actions through diplomatic channels, the agency said. Motoki was released after a few hours of detention.
Tokyo has lodged a “strong protest” about the detention and signaled it may retaliate, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a media briefing on Tuesday.
Matsuno, Japan’s top government spokesperson, said Moscow took the consul into custody in an “intimidating manner,” blindfolding and applying pressure to his hands and head while questioning him in an “overbearing way,” which was “a clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”
“The detained consul was not engaging in any illegal activity,” Matsuno said, adding the Japanese deputy foreign minister told the Russian ambassador to Japan that Tokyo “needs to take equivalent steps” and demanded a formal apology from Moscow.
The released consul will depart Russia by Wednesday, Matsuno said.
Russia considers Japan a hostile country, along with the US, UK, and nations of the European Union that have aligned themselves with Ukraine.
With Post wires
