Putin Kuril Islands visit prompts Japanese diplomatic protest
Putin made his first trip to the Russian-controlled Kuril Islands, renewing a dispute that still blocks a formal Japan-Russia peace treaty.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first Putin Kuril Islands visit drew a formal protest from Japan on Aug. 13 after he travelled to Iturup, an island controlled by Moscow and claimed by Tokyo. The trip revived a postwar territorial dispute that has kept the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty, according to the Associated Press.
Putin toured a fish-processing plant, a hospital and a school on Iturup, and met Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko and local residents, the Associated Press reported. Japan calls the island Etorofu.
Before reaching Iturup, Putin attended the final phase of Russian Pacific Fleet exercises on Sakhalin Island, according to the Associated Press. Reuters reported that Russia’s TASS news agency described the trip as Putin’s first to the disputed island chain.
Why are the Kuril Islands disputed?
Russia controls the Kuril Islands, while Japan claims the four southernmost islands as its Northern Territories. The Soviet Union took the islands from Japan in the final days of World War II, and the unresolved claim has prevented a treaty formally ending the countries’ wartime hostilities, the Associated Press reported.
The disputed islands are Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai in Russian usage; Japan calls them Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and Habomai, according to AFP. The islands form part of a volcanic chain extending from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula toward Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido.
Negotiations over the territory have produced no settlement over decades, the Associated Press reported. Moscow has also expanded its military presence on the islands over the years, AFP reported.
How did Japan and Russia respond?
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Japan strongly protested Putin’s visit and summoned Russian Ambassador Nikolay Nozdrev to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, according to the Associated Press. Motegi said Japan considers the Northern Territories, including Etorofu, part of its territory on historical and international-law grounds.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the visit incompatible with Japan’s position and absolutely unacceptable, the Associated Press reported. She said it would further hinder efforts to repair bilateral ties, which have already been strained by Russia’s war in Ukraine and Japan’s sanctions against Moscow.
Russia’s Embassy in Japan rejected the protest as unfounded. The embassy said the southern Kurils are an integral part of the Russian Federation and that travel by Russia’s president within territory Moscow considers its own is not a matter for other states to decide, according to the Associated Press.
Japan lodged a similar protest in 2021 after then-Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iturup, the Associated Press reported. The latest exchange shows that the territorial dispute remains an obstacle to improved relations despite past diplomatic efforts.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.