Russian President Vladimir Putin today, for the first time, visited the Kuril Islands, a Russian-controlled Pacific island chain also claimed by Japan, in a move that drew a protest from Tokyo.
President Putin visited a fish-processing plant, a hospital and a school on Iturup, one of the chain’s southernmost islands. He also briefly spoke to local residents and met with Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko.
Japan claims territorial rights to the four southernmost Kuril Islands, which it calls the Northern Territories. The Soviet Union seized the islands from Japan in the final days of World War Two.
The territorial dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty to end their wartime hostilities.
Decades of diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute have produced little progress. In recent years, Moscow has also strengthened its military presence on the Kuril Islands, underscoring its firm position on the territorial issue.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said that he strongly protests against President Putin’s visit to Iturup, which Tokyo calls Etorofu. Japan also lodged a protest in 2021, when then-Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iturup