MOSCOW, Oct. 14 -- A Japanese reporter who was preparing to leave Russia is now in pretrial detention in Moscow on a charge that carries up to 20 years, and nearly everything the public knows about the case comes from the security service that arrested him.

The Federal Security Service said on Tuesday that it had detained a Japanese national in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the main city of Sakhalin Island, as he prepared to depart, and flown him to Moscow, where the Lefortovsky District Court ordered his arrest. Russia's Foreign Ministry named him as Yuki Imai, a correspondent for the Hokkaido Shimbun, a regional newspaper based in Sapporo. Interfax reported he will stay in custody until December 12.

The arrest lands at a low point in relations. ...