Japan Urges Russia to Release Detained Reporter Immediately

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.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]