Politics
Russia Detains a Hokkaido Shimbun Reporter in Sakhalin on Spying Charges
A reporter for the Hokkaido Shimbun's Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk bureau was detained by Russia's FSB on spying charges and moved to Moscow, where a court ordered him held. Many commenters doubted the charge and read it as political pressure, worrying how the detainee would fare. Others seized on the paper's left-leaning, pacifist reputation to treat the matter lightly, and some pivoted to calling for an anti-espionage law. 'Espionage' is the FSB's accusation, not an established fact.