Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the far-eastern Kuril islands on Thursday, marking his first trip to the disputed territory and prompting a strong protest from Japan, which also claims the islands.
Russian-Japanese relations have long been strained over the islands, which were seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. Known in Japan as the Northern Territories, the archipelago is strategically located north of Hokkaido. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and six days before the conflict's end.
The Kremlin released a video showing Putin on the Kuril Islands, with Russian media reporting he visited a fish-processing plant and was presented with caviar. Putin's visit to the islands followed his trip to the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin, where Russia's navy was conducting drills. In Sakhalin, Putin convened a meeting focused on "ensuring the security of Russia's eastern borders," according to RIA Novosti.
Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi issued a statement expressing strong objection, asserting that "The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory both historically and under international law." Japan's ties with Russia have deteriorated significantly since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The four contested islands are Kunashir, Habomai, Shikotan, and Iturup, known in Japanese as Kunashiri, Habomai, Shikotan, and Etorofu. The islands have a population of approximately 20,000 Russian citizens and possess mineral deposits, including gold and silver, as well as rich fishing grounds. After their occupation in 1945, Moscow deported roughly 17,000 Japanese residents. The islands gained strategic importance during the Cold War, serving as air and sea bases for the Soviet Union.
Previous Russian leaders have visited the disputed territory. In 2010, then-President Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit, and he made subsequent visits as prime minister. Despite periods of negotiation and a 1956 proposal by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to potentially return two of the islands under a peace treaty, no progress has been made on resolving the territorial dispute since diplomatic relations were re-established that year. Talks have resumed intermittently after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, but have yet to yield a resolution.
