Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup Island in the Pacific Ocean this Thursday, provoking a strong protest from the Japanese government, which claims this and three other islands as its own, the southernmost of the Kuril archipelago, controlled by Moscow since the end of World War II in 1945. Due to this dispute, Moscow and Tokyo have never signed a peace treaty formally ending the conflict.
After overseeing the final phase of military maneuvers of the Russian Pacific Fleet and visiting Sakhalin Island, the Russian leader traveled to Iturup to visit a fish processing plant, a hospital, and a secondary education center, as previously announced by the Kremlin.
According to images from Russian television, Putin tasted local caviar and received explanations about the processing of tuna and halibut from the head of the fishing plant, accompanied by Valery Limarenko, the governor of Sakhalin. The Kurils, a chain of islands 1,300 kilometers long that starts near the Kamchatka Peninsula and ends in front of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, are attached to this region.
The four islands that Japan calls the Northern Territories: Iturup (Etorofu), Kunashir (Kunashiri), Shikotan, and the Habomai islets
This is the first time Putin has traveled to the Kuril Islands that Japan claims as its own territory. But he is not the first Russian president to do so. On November 2, 2010, Dmitry Medvedev visited another disputed island, Kunashir. Both on that occasion and this one, the presence of the Russian leader in the Northern Territories, as Japan calls them, provoked a protest from the Japanese government.
These Northern Territories consist of four islands that were never Russian before 1945: Iturup (called Etorofu in Japan), Kunashir (Kunashiri), Shikotan, and the Habomai islets.
Putin’s visit is “absolutely unacceptable,” says Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said this Thursday that Putin’s visit “hurts the feelings of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable.” She also announced that the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will present a “formal and strong” protest.
According to Takaichi, this trip is “incompatible” with Japan’s position, which maintains that these islands “are an inherent part of Japanese territory, both historically and legally, according to international law.”
She also stated that “it further aggravates anti-Russian sentiment in the country and hinders the restoration of relations in the medium and long term.” Bilateral ties between Moscow and Tokyo have been “in a difficult situation” since February 2022, when Putin sent the Russian army into Ukraine.
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In 2018, Putin and then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the last attempt to sign a peace agreement that had been pending since 1945.
The two leaders agreed not to leave this issue pending for future generations and decided to base it on the 1956 joint declaration, which indicated that after signing the peace treaty, two of the four islands could be transferred to Japan: Shikotan and the Habomai islets, the closest to Hokkaido.
Although Moscow did not say that this would be the end, the possibility of handing over part of Russian territory caused protests in Russia. Finally, the Kremlin insisted that before reaching any agreement, Japan must recognize Russian sovereignty over the islands, which ended hopes for any pact. Additionally, the 2020 Russian Constitution reform prohibited the transfer of any part of Russia to another country.
More than 150 years of changing hands
In any case, the doors to dialogue remained open, even if only to advance economic agreements in the region that would benefit both parties. But they were abruptly closed in 2022 with the start of the war in Ukraine. Japan joined Western countries and imposed sanctions against Russia. Moscow responded by suspending any talks about the Kurils.
The Kuril Islands have been changing hands for more than 150 years. In 1855, the Treaty of Shimoda established the border between Iturup Island (for the Empire of Japan) and Urup Island (for the Russian Empire). But in 1875, the Treaty of Saint Petersburg determined that the Empire of Japan would cede the part of Sakhalin Island it controlled to the Russian Empire, and in exchange, the Russian Empire would hand over all the Kuril Islands up to the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The USSR conquered the Kurils during World War II, but days after the Japanese surrender. The capitulation occurred on August 14, 1945, while the Soviet occupation took place between August 18 and September 3 of that year.
In the peace agreements signed by the Allies and accepted by Japan in 1951 in San Francisco, the annexation of these territories by the USSR was included. But Tokyo has maintained since then that those agreements did not refer to the Northern Territories.
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