Japan protests as Russia’s Putin visits disputed Kuril Islands

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has paid his first-ever visit to a Russian-administered island chain in the Pacific that is also claimed by Japan, drawing condemnation from Tokyo.

Putin visited the Kuril Islands on Thursday, meeting with the regional governor and visiting a fish-processing plant, a hospital and a school on the southernmost isle of Iturup, according to Russian state media.

Japan asserts territorial rights to the four southernmost islands of the chain, which it calls the Northern Territories. The isles were seized by the Soviet Union during the second world war and have remained a source of friction between Moscow and Tokyo.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called Putin’s visit to the territory “absolutely unacceptable”, saying it “offends the sentiments of the Japanese people”.

“This visit … by the sitting Russian president goes against Japan’s consistent position on the Northern Territories,” Takaichi told reporters, using the Japanese name for the islands.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi also criticised Putin’s visit, saying the disputed islands “are an inherent part of Japan’s territory both historically and under international law”.

Putin says Russia ‘not threatening Japan’

Ties between Tokyo and Moscow have worsened since the full-scale conflict in Ukraine began in 2022, with Japan joining other G7 countries in sanctioning Russia and giving money and non-lethal defence aid to Kyiv.

Putin on Wednesday called Japan’s sanctions “unprovoked”.

“Japan has identified Russia as a main source of threats. I would like to point out that we are not threatening Japan … On the contrary, it has territorial claims against our country,” Putin said.

The four disputed Kuril isles are part of the volcanic Kuril archipelago, running in a broad arc from Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula down to Japan’s main northern island, Hokkaido.

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. Moscow over the years has beefed up its military presence on the islands.

Putin travelled to the Kurils after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin on Wednesday, where Russia’s navy was conducting drills.

In Sakhalin, Putin, held a meeting “on ensuring the security of Russia’s eastern borders,” according to Russian media.