World
Putin visits Kuril islands claimed by Japan: state media
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.
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by the Russian Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Viktor Liina, visits the Russian Navy's guided missile cruiser Varyag as he oversees the final stage of a Pacific Fleet's naval drills on far eastern Sakhalin Island on August 12, 2026. (AFP)
By: AFP ., Journalist @New Vision
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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 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.
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.