Japan on Tuesday ordered a Russian consul based in northern Japan to leave the country within six days, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said, in retaliation for Moscow’s expulsion of a Japanese diplomat last month.
Hayashi told reporters that his ministry declared the consul at the Russian Consulate General in Sapporo persona non grata after Russia’s Federal Security Service detained a Japanese consul in Vladivostok for a few hours for alleged espionage and expelled him from the country.
Japan says the consul, Tatsunori Motoki, who returned home last week after being declared persona non grata by the Russian Foreign Ministry, had not committed any illegal act.
Hayashi has criticized Russia for treating the consul “coercively” during his detention, including being blindfolded and physically restrained.
He said Tuesday that the Russian detention and interrogation of the Japanese consul was a “clear and serious violation” of international law and “extremely regrettable.”
Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori summoned Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin to the ministry to inform Moscow of Tokyo’s countermeasure, Hayashi said. But he stopped short of giving details about the Russian consul, saying merely that Japan responded “accordingly” to Moscow’s expulsion of the consul.
The ambassador released a statement saying that the Russian diplomat “did not engage in activities violating his authority” and that the Japanese order could only further worsen bilateral ties.
On Sept. 26, Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Motoki of obtaining classified information in exchange for payment, and ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours.
The diplomatic tit-for-tat comes as Japan has joined Western nations in imposing economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine since late February.
