Japan admits growing need to counter espionage after Russian ‘den of spies’ report

Issue must be addressed with ‘even greater rigour’, says government spokesman, after New York Times report on how it has become a spy hub for Vladimir Putin

Japan has said it recognised the need to counter foreign intelligence better after the New York Times reported that Russia had turned the country into a “den of spies” and key source of weapons components.

The newspaper, in an investigation published on Sunday, reported that thanks to “weak espionage laws”, Moscow was using Japan as a key hub for intelligence gathering and procurement of dual-use technology needed for its war in Ukraine.

Chief government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said on Monday: “We recognise that in a rapidly changing security environment there is a growing need to counter foreign intelligence activities – such as the acquisition of critical information – that threaten Japan’s national security.”

Declining to comment directly on the NYT’s report, Kihara told reporters that Tokyo “must address this issue with even greater rigour”.

Kihara added that Japan’s parliament this year approved legislation paving the way for the creation of a new national body to coordinate its fragmented intelligence activities.

The report cited Ukrainian government estimates that 90% of Russian missiles and drones contain Japanese components.

It alleged that Russia’s operations in Japan were being run by a Russian intelligence operative working under cover at the Tokyo office of majority state-owned Russian airline Aeroflot.

Because direct exports to Russia are restricted, procurement networks use intermediary companies and third countries like Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka to move components into Russia, the NYT added.

The report noted how hundreds of Russian spies were expelled by western countries when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, and reported that many ended up in Japan to take advantage of its flourishing tech industry and weak espionage laws, partly the result of constraints put in place after the second world war.

“We have a sense of crisis about this situation,” Akihisa Shiozaki, a lawmaker in the governing Liberal Democratic party and a former lawyer who prosecuted industrial espionage cases, told the NYT.