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MOSCOW/TOkyo (Reuters) – Russian news agencies said on Monday they had detained a Japanese consul in the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok on spying charges and ordered him to leave the country.
Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported, quoting government sources, that the consul was released a few hours after he was detained by the Russian agency.
The FSB said the consul was declared persona non grata after he was caught “red-handed” receiving classified information about the effects of Western sanctions on the economic situation in Russia’s Far East.
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She said the classified information, which also related to Russia’s cooperation with an unnamed country in the Asia-Pacific, was obtained for a “financial reward”.
The agencies quoted the Federal Security Bureau as saying that Russia had protested to Japan.
The Japanese Embassy in Russia lodged a strong protest with the Russian Foreign Ministry, saying it was a “clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations” and the order to leave the country was “unreasonable,” according to Kyodo.
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Reporting by Reuters. Editing by Nick McPhee and Jerry Doyle
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