Putin Visits Kuril Islands for First Time, Tokyo Strongly Opposes Trip

Vladimir Putin made his first official visit to the Kuril Islands, an archipelago that has been the subject of a decades-long dispute between Russia and Japan.

Russian state news agencies reported that the Russian president had “personally visited the Kuril Islands for the first time.” According to TASS, during his stay he inspected the Varyag, a Slava-class cruiser and the flagship of Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

After staying in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, on Sakhalin Island, Putin traveled to Iturup, another island in the archipelago, where he toured a fish-processing plant.

Japan, which claims sovereignty over at least four of the islands and does not recognize Russian control over them, immediately responded to the visit.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the Japanese government “strongly protests” Vladimir Putin’s trip to the Kuril Islands.

“The Northern Territories (…) are an integral part of Japan’s territory, both historically and under international law, and the Japanese government strongly protests this visit,” Motegi said in a statement released by his office.

Referring to the archipelago, the minister used the Japanese term “Northern Territories.” The islands lie between Hokkaido and the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Russian-Japanese territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands has continued for decades and remains one of the main obstacles in relations between the two countries.