Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the far-eastern Kuril Islands for the primary time, state media reported on Thursday, drawing anger from Japan.
Japan has long claimed ownership of four of the Kuril Islands, together with the one reportedly visited by Putin, which the Soviet Union seized towards the tip of World War II.
What’s the dispute over the Kuril Islands?
Throughout his journey, Putin visited a fish-processing plant on the island, often called Iturup in Russian and Etorofu in Japanese, the place he was given caviar, Russian media reported.
The island belongs to 4 which can be identified in Japan because the Northern Territories and that at the moment are Russian-occupied following the Soviet Union’s takeover in 1945.
At the moment, Moscow deported their Japanese inhabitants of about 17,000 individuals, with the islands now inhabited by some 20,000 Russian residents.
The unresolved dispute was one of many key explanation why Moscow and Tokyo by no means signed a proper World Warfare II peace treaty.
Russian-Japanese relations have since suffered one other major blow following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022.
The volcanic Kuril archipelago runs in an arc from Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula all the way down to Japan’s most important northern island of Hokkaido.
What has Japan stated about Putin’s go to?
In an announcement on Thursday, Japan’s international minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, expressed Tokyo’s nice displeasure at Putin’s go to.
“The Northern Territories … are an inherent a part of Japan’s territory each traditionally and underneath worldwide legislation, and the federal government of Japan strongly protests this go to,” the assertion stated.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi later advised reporters that the go to “offends the feelings of the Japanese individuals and is completely unacceptable.”
Strategically-located Kuril Islands
The islands have seldom been visited by Russian leaders, with then-President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010 turning into the primary to journey to the disputed territory.
Medvedev also went there in 2015 as prime minister.
Putin’s go to to the Kurils got here after he visited the close by Russian island of Sakhalin, the place Russia’s navy was conducting drills.
The islands had appreciable strategic significance for the Soviet Union, which stored a big army presence there throughout the Chilly Warfare amid tensions with the US and Japan.
Talks on the territorial situation which have been held for the reason that fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 have so far borne no fruit.
Edited by: Rob Turner
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