Japan has ordered a Russian diplomat to leave the country in retaliation for Russia’s expulsion last week of a Japanese consul general, as relations between the two countries deteriorate.
Calling Russia’s move “an indisputable and serious violation of international laws,” Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said Tuesday that a diplomat at the Russian consulate in Sapporo had been declared persona non grata and ordered to leave within six days “in an equivalent response.”
Last week, Russia accused a Japanese diplomat in the far-eastern city of Vladivostok of what it called “illegal information-gathering activities.” The diplomat was detained, blindfolded and interrogated before he was ordered to leave the country within 48 hours, according to Japanese officials, who denied that the official broke any laws.
The Japanese diplomat, whom local news reports have identified as Tatsunori Motoki, returned to Japan on Friday, according to the foreign minister. Russia’s state news agency, Tass, said the consul had attempted to pay for classified information relating to Russia’s relations with an unidentified country in the Asia Pacific, an accusation Japan has denied.
Japan was quick to join the United States and Europe in imposing sanctions against Russia in the immediate aftermath of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February. The government has continued to harshly criticize the war while supplying Ukraine with military aid including drones, bulletproof vests and helmets.
In April, Japan expelled eight diplomats and officials from the Russian Embassy and trade office in Tokyo in protest of the killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces, calling the mass deaths a war crime.
Last week, Mr. Hayashi denounced Russia’s declaration that it was annexing four regions of Ukraine and said Japan would not recognize the illegal seizure of territory.
Japan has its own a long-simmering territorial dispute with Russia, over islands to the northeast of Hokkaido, seized by Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II. Hard-line nationalists in Russia have bristled at the prospect of returning the islands to Japan, something Tokyo has long sought.
