How Putin Turned Japan Into a Den of Spies

[Zorro]

Operating out of a Tokyo high-rise, a military intelligence unit finds the high-tech equipment that Russia needs to wage war.

Soon after troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Western leaders expelled hundreds of Russian spies from their capitals and blacklisted companies with ties to the Kremlin.

The coordinated effort was intended to make it harder for the Kremlin to collect intelligence and buy equipment like microchips, transmitters and the machinery used to make weapons.

Since then, officials say, dozens of those banished spies have turned up in an unexpected place: Japan.

The country’s weak espionage laws and flourishing high-tech industry have made it a crucial piece of the Russian war effort. Ninety percent of Russian missiles and drones contain Japanese components, according to Ukrainian government estimates.

At the heart of the operation in Tokyo is a secretive Russian military intelligence unit known as the 20th Directorate, whose role has never been publicly disclosed. Posing as diplomats or businesspeople, its officers work to buy or steal battlefield technology and smuggle it into Russia, according to current and former officials at five Western intelligence agencies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/world/asia/russia-spies-japan-war-drones-electronics.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xFA.dyCT.fhc4xV2QAjhN&smid=url-share