A month after Russia detained a Hokkaido Shimbun reporter on espionage grounds, Japan has won no release, while the US has recovered dozens of its own citizens through a presidential envoy armed with sanctions powers, the Sankei Shimbun reported.
Thursday marks one month since Russia detained the male reporter, who was working at the newspaper's Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk bureau, on a spy charge.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has denied he was engaged in espionage. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has asked his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, for his immediate release.
No opening toward his release has emerged.
A US model for hostage diplomacy
Washington has recovered numerous detained Americans through its presidential envoy for hostage affairs, who leads negotiations for citizens held abroad.
Then-President Barack Obama created the post in 2015 after Islamic State militants detained a series of Americans. The envoy was placed under the National Security Council, with relevant government bodies ordered to cooperate.
In 2020, under the first Trump administration, a law took effect allowing the president to impose economic sanctions on individuals and groups involved in the "wrongful detention" of Americans.
A September 2025 executive order under the second Trump administration widened the scope of those sanctions to cover states.
Roger Carstens, the envoy from 2020 to 2025 across the first Trump and Biden administrations, said the president's orders and congressional cooperation had built a system for the government to complete its "mission."
In the talks to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia in March 2023, the envoy worked with the FBI and the German government.
In August 2024, Gershkovich and 15 others were released in exchange for eight Russians, including intelligence officers serving life terms in Germany for the assassination of an anti-Russian activist.
In negotiations with Venezuela that brought back 18 Americans in total, the US released detained Venezuelans and lifted some economic sanctions.
Carstens did not discuss the details of the behind-the-scenes talks. He said some releases came "without anything in return" and that at other times "we brought out the club."
The threat of sanctions appears to have underpinned the negotiations.
“The president's orders and Congress's cooperation made it a big thing that we built a system to complete the 'mission' as a government.”Roger Carstens, former US presidential envoy for hostage affairs
Consular access still pending
Japan's consular access to the reporter has not been granted. A consular meeting is expected on the 19th or later.
A US newspaper editorial criticized Russia over the detention, calling the reporter a pawn in hostage diplomacy and asking whether it was a chance to press for eased sanctions.