Japan Protests As Putin Makes First Visit To Disputed Kuril Islands

President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s far-eastern Kuril Islands for the first time on Thursday, prompting protests from Japan which also claims the territory.

Russian-Japanese relations have long been strained over the disputed islands. Japan calls them the Northern Territories and says they were seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.

The Kremlin released video of Putin on one of the Kurils’ four main islands. Russian media reported he visited a fish-processing plant and was presented with caviar.

“The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan’s territory, both historically and under international law,” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters.

Putin’s visit “offends the sentiments of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable,” she said, adding that it “made it more difficult to restore relations in the medium to long term.”

Putin travelled to the Kurils after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin on Wednesday, where Russia’s navy was conducting drills. In Sakhalin, the 73-year-old president held a meeting “on ensuring the security of Russia’s eastern borders,” according to RIA Novosti.

Ties between Japan and Russia, which fought a war in 1904-1905, have worsened since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Japan has joined other G7 countries in sanctioning Russia and providing money and non-lethal defence aid to Kyiv.

Putin on Wednesday called Japan’s sanctions “unprovoked.”
“Japan has identified Russia as a main source of threats. I would like to point out that we are not threatening Japan… On the contrary it has territorial claims against our country,” Putin said.

Russia and China have also moved closer, with their navies and air forces conducting joint exercises in areas around Japan, leading to frequent scramblings by Japanese jets. North Korea has also sent troops and artillery shells to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Japan’s latest defence white paper this month again highlighted growing risks from Russia, China and North Korea. The New York Times reported in July that Russia had turned Japan into a “den of spies” and a key source of dual-use technology for its war in Ukraine.

The Soviet Union took the volcanic archipelago north of Hokkaido in the final days of World War II, and has maintained a military presence there since. In 2010, then-president Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the disputed territory.

The four contested islands are part of the Kuril chain stretching from Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula to Japan’s main northern island Hokkaido. Their population of about 20,000 Russian citizens lives in a harsh climate, but the islands hold mineral deposits including gold and silver, and rich fishing grounds.

After the occupation in 1945, Moscow deported the islands’ Japanese population of about 17,000 people. The islands later gained strategic importance as air and sea bases during the Cold War.