Japan orders Russian consul to leave in retaliatory move

Japan ordered a Russian consul based in northern Japan to leave the country within six days in retaliation for Moscow's expulsion of a Japanese diplomat last month, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said, Report informs, citing the Japan Times.

Hayashi told reporters that his ministry declared the consul at the Russian Consulate General in Sapporo persona non grata after Russia's Federal Security Service detained a Japanese consul in Vladivostok for a few hours for alleged espionage and expelled him from the country.

The Japanese consul, Tatsunori Motoki, returned home last week after being declared persona non grata by the Russian Foreign Ministry.