TOKYO (AP) — Japan lodged a protest with Russia on Wednesday over the arrest of a Japanese journalist on suspicion of spying, demanding that Moscow provide an explanation, consular access and humane treatment.
Russia's Federal Security Service said the man, who works for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, was suspected of gathering information about Russia's defense capability on behalf of a Japanese intelligence agency. Russia's Foreign Ministry identified the reporter as Yuki Imai.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet KGB, said it arrested the man on Sakhalin Island as he was preparing to leave Russia.
Tuesday’s arrest is the latest dispute between the two countries, whose tensions have spiked after President Vladimir Putin ’s visit in August to Iturup, one of four disputed Kuril Islands, a Moscow-controlled Pacific archipelago that also is claimed by Japan.
Hokkaido Shimbun said the man had been reporting in Russia on a journalist visa and was due to leave the country Monday. The newspaper did not disclose his name.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Tuesday that Imai had been charged with espionage. She accused Tokyo of using Japanese journalists in Russia to gather information to undermine Russian security, calling it “regrettable.”
Zakharova said Japan’s policies toward Russia and its military buildup threatened Moscow’s security interests in the Far East, adding that “the incident will further dampen the atmosphere in Russian-Japanese relations.”
In Tokyo on Wednesday, Kimitake Nakamura, head of the European Affairs Bureau at Japan's Foreign Ministry, summoned Russian Ambassador Nikolay Nozdrev to protest the arrest and Moscow's announcement without an explanation to Japan's government, according to a ministry statement.
Nakamura demanded humane and fair treatment of the journalist and for Japanese officials to be allowed to have contact with him, the ministry said.
He also reiterated Japan's territorial claim over the Kuril Islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territory. He protested a recent visit to Iturup by officials of a Chinese regional government and companies, calling it “unacceptable.” The Sakhalin regional government announced the visit Tuesday.
Nozdrev said he would relay Japan's position to Moscow, according to the Japanese ministry.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara earlier said the journalist's health was unknown because Japanese officials have been unable to contact him. Russia had not responded to Tokyo's requests for access, he added.
“We'll do everything we can for the protection of the Japanese citizen,” he said.
Though Japan has “many problems” with Russia, the two countries are neighbors and “we need to communicate,” Kihara said. Japan recognizes the importance of properly managing relations and will take appropriate steps to serve its national interests, he added.
The Russian region of Sakhalin includes Sakhalin Island and the four southernmost islands of the Kuril chain, which Moscow controls and Tokyo claims.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi protested Putin’s August visit, calling it a further blow to relations already strained by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, Tokyo imposed additional economic sanctions on Moscow over the war.
The Soviet Union seized the Kuril Islands from Japan in the final days of World War II. The territorial dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities.
FILE - An entrance of the Lefortovo prison is seen in Moscow, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - Journalists stand next to an entrance of the Lefortovo prison, in Moscow, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
LONDON (AP) — The building that houses London's oldest restaurant has been donated to Europe's biggest conservation charity, a move that will, it is hoped, secure one of the U.K. capital's go-to eateries for centuries to come.
Established in 1798 by Thomas Rule as an oyster bar when Europe was in turmoil in the aftermath of the French Revolution, Rules has survived the British Empire, the Blitz and even plans for a new road layout that would have seen it demolished.
Its menu expanded to traditional British fare and the restaurant welcomed generations of high profile figures from Charles Dickens to Charlie Chaplin, David Bowie to Madonna. King Edward VII would even rendezvous with his lovers there.
Now, the four-decade owner of the building that houses Rules, J-P Mayhew, has made the selfless decision to donate 34-35 Maiden Lane in bustling Covent Garden in central London to the National Trust, itself a British institution hailing back to 1895.
“There are few restaurants in the world that have endured the test of time like Rules,” Mayhew said Wednesday. “The Trust will protect this place in a way that no one else could, safeguarding its bricks and mortar, its famous interior and its invisible atmosphere, too.”
The charity, which seeks to save important sites while opening them up for everyone to enjoy, said that the 11 million-pound ($14 million) donation would secure the future of a building where “kings dined and writers and politicians plotted.”
Along with the building, the donation includes items such as visitor books, menus, caricatures, photographs, stained glass and signs. The gift also includes the annual rent from the ongoing restaurant business, which will go into conservation work each year.
The trust described it as a “rare example of living heritage” where both the historic structure and the original use of the building — a restaurant — remain intact.
“This place is an outstanding piece of living history, with its corners where kings dined and writers and politicians plotted, and the traditions it kept alive through wars and upheaval,” said Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust. “It has defied the odds to be standing here today, doors still open and treacle sponge still on the menu.”
Going into the restaurant is like stepping back into a London that's long gone, with the interiors plush and colorful. The menu is rich and in many cases old-school English — fans of steak and kidney pies and guinea fowl and of course the desserts, such as sticky toffee pudding and apple crumble are unlikely to be disappointed.
There are rooms named after poet John Betjeman, who gave an impassioned speech in defense of the restaurant's “invisible atmosphere” when London's then governing authority planned to expand the nearby Strand thoroughfare in 1971 that would have led to the demolition of Rules.
There's also a room named after one of the restaurant's most loyal customers, writer Graham Greene, who had birthday meals there and featured it in his novel “The End Of The Affair.”
The restaurant’s proprietor Ricky McMenemy, who has worked there for 35 years, will become a commercial tenant of the National Trust.
“As an independent business, it gives us both the security and peace of mind that our home will be in very good hands and be protected and secure going forward,” he said. “Having already established a very amicable working relationship with the Trust, we look forward to another two centuries in this, our home.”
View of a board inside London's oldest Restaurant ' Rules' which has been donated to Europe's biggest conservation charity in London, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
A board explaining the history stands outside London's oldest Restaurant ' Rules' which has been donated to Europe's biggest conservation charity in London, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
View at the window of London's oldest Restaurant ' Rules' which has been donated to Europe's biggest conservation charity in London, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
View at the window of Britain's oldest Restaurant ' Rules' which has been donated to Europe's biggest conservation charity in London, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
A man walks past London's oldest Restaurant ' Rules' which has been donated to Europe's biggest conservation charity in London, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
