&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Putin’s trip to the Kuril Islands reopens an 80-year-old wound; Japan 'strongly protests visit'. Here's why")
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent trip to the disputed Kuril Islands has once again strained relations between Moscow and Tokyo. Fresh off watching naval drills in nearby Sakhalin, the Russian president landed on the Russian-controlled chain, where Kremlin footage showed him touring a local fish processing plant and sampling caviar on Thursday (Aug 13).
The visit sparked immediate outrage in Tokyo. Japan’s Foreign Minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, issued a sharp protest, reiterating that the four southernmost islands—known in Japan as the Northern Territories—are an "inherent part" of Japanese territory under international law.
"The Northern Territories... are an inherent part of Japan's territory both historically and under international law, and the government of Japan strongly protests this visit," Motegi said in a statement.
Why does Japan have an issue with Putin visiting the Kuril Islands?
The roots of the dispute trace back to the dying days of World War II. Just days after the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and seized the archipelago. Around 17,000 Japanese residents were expelled, replaced over the decades by Russian settlers whose descendants make up the roughly 20,000 people living there today.
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That wartime clash has cast a long shadow. Because neither side could agree on who owns the islands—Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai islets—Russia and Japan have technically never signed a formal peace treaty to end World War II.
Why it matters now
While Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev briefly offered to return two of the smaller islands back in 1956, modern diplomacy has completely stalled. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine pushed Tokyo to align firmly with Western sanctions, prompting Moscow to freeze talks and lean harder into strategic alliances with Beijing and Pyongyang.
Stretching 1,300 kilometers from Hokkaido to the Kamchatka Peninsula, the chain acts as a gateway between the Pacific and the Sea of Okhotsk. Whoever controls them commands rich fishing grounds, valuable mineral deposits, and a crucial military stronghold in the North Pacific.
