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Japanese Spy Charges Downgraded to Financial Malfeasance
The case of the Japanese government employee accused of giving secret information to Russian intelligence has taken an unexpected turn. While continuing to protest Russia's unwillingness to assist with the investigation, Japanese officials have practically admitted that there was no espionage: the official gave Russian diplomats translations from the foreign press and summaries of presentations at conferences.
Mikhail Galuzin, a counselor at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, was summoned to the Japanese Foreign Ministry to hear the protest of Keiichi Katakami, deputy director of the ministry's department of European countries, in connection with the case of the 52-year-old employee of the Japanese cabinet's Information Research Office accused by the Japanese security police of passing confidential documents to the second secretary of the Russian embassy. The case has caused a public outcry in Japan and was commented on by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Spokesmen for the Russian embassy, in response to Japanese requests for cooperation in the case, expressed perplexity over it and stated that it was being used by those who wish to hinder the development of Japanese-Russian relations. The Japanese were not satisfied with this attitude.
Glazunov explained that the second secretary and the three other embassy employees the Japanese wanted to question had finished their assignments in Japan and left the country.
The Japanese suspect has been charged with violations of confidentiality and of corruption. He is thought to have received $37,000 from the Russian diplomat in the course of several months. He cannot be charged with espionage, because the documents he passed to the Russians were not secret. The secretariat of the Japanese cabinet has stated that there are not even confidentiality charges against the suspect now.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 25, 2008
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