DIPLOMATIC ROW: Russia expels Japanese journalist over espionage – RIA

Russia on Monday said it had expelled a Japanese journalist for trying to obtain secret information related to Russian military capabilities in the Russian Far East, the RIA news agency reported.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the journalist, whom it did not name, was given 72 hours to leave Russia and had already left after being detained by police in the Russian Pacific port city of Vladivostok in December 2019.

“The ministry summoned a Japanese embassy official to make an official diplomatic protest over the incident,’’ RIA reported.

Ties between Japan and Russia are strained by a long-standing territorial row over a chain of islands in the Pacific.

– The Nation