NewzJapan says it "strongly protests" Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to the disputed Kuril Islands. Tensions over the Russian-controlled archipelago, claimed partly by Japan, have long dogged bilateral ties. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the disputed Kuril Islands for the first time.
This visit occurred amid deeply strained relations between Russia and Japan. Japan strongly protests the visit, reiterating its territorial claims over the islands. The long-standing dispute has intensified since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
This territorial disagreement prevents a formal World War II peace treaty. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the far-eastern Kuril Islands for the first time on Thursday, prompting a “strong” protest by Japan which also claims the territory. Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by tensions over the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.
The Kremlin posted a video of Putin in the Kuril Islands, with Russian media saying he visited a fish-processing plant where he was given caviar. Tokyo issued a strong protest in response to the Russian leader's visit to the disputed territory claimed by Japan that was seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. It was the first time the Russian leader had visited the Kuril islands, according to state media.
The Russian leader visited the Kuril islands for the first time, according to state media. Tourists take photos at Cape Nosappu, near Kunashir, the southernmost of the Russian-administered Kuril Islands. (EPA Images pic)MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin visited for the first time the far-eastern Kuril islands, state media reported on Thursday, likely worsening ties with Japan which also claims part of the archipelago.Putin "has personally visited the Kuril Islands for the first time", where he inspected the flagship of Russia's Pacific fleet, the TASS news agency reported.Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by tensions over the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.Ties have worsened sharply since the full-scale Ukraine war began in 2022.The Soviet Union took the strategically located volcanic archipelago north of Hokkaido in the final days of World War II, and has maintained a military presence there ever since.In 2010 then president Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the disputed territory.
He also went in 2019 as prime minister.The four contested isles are part of the volcanic Kuril archipelago, which runs in a broad arc from Russia's Kamchatka peninsula down to Japan's main northern island Hokkaido.The Soviet Union only declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and six days before the end of the conflict.The islands' names are similar in both countries -- Kunashir, Habomai, Shikotan and Iturup in Russian, while in Japanese they are known as Kunashiri, Habomai, Shikotan and Etorofu.Their population of about 20,000 Russian citizens lives in a harsh climate, but the islands have mineral deposits including gold and silver, and rich fishing grounds.After the islands were occupied in 1945, Moscow deported their Japanese population of about 17,000 people.Thereafter the islands acquired strategic importance, providing air and sea bases during the Cold War as the Soviet Union confronted the United States and its closest ally in the Pacific, Japan.On several occasions it appeared that off-and-on talks between Tokyo and Moscow were making progress and in 1956, when diplomatic relations were established, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev suggested two of the disputed islands might be returned under a peace treaty.Although the talks resumed after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, no progress has been made.
Summary from source