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Putin on Iturup
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup, a Japan-claimed island at the end of the Kuril chain near Hokkaido, for the first time, state media said on Thursday.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup, a Japan-claimed island at the end of the Kuril chain”
Reuters said the trip followed major naval drills and a missile firing by ally North Korea, and that Putin visited the Yasny fish-processing plant on Iturup after overseeing the navy drills in Russia's far east.
TASS described the visit as Putin's first in person to the island chain, and Reuters reported that Vesti TV showed Putin in a dark suit standing in a room looking at two large tuna and halibut on a table.
Reuters also reported that Putin stopped to try local fish roe and told a group of Iturup locals, "What lovely weather you have there, just like a resort!"
The Reuters account said Japan and Russia never signed a formal World War Two peace treaty because of the unresolved territorial dispute over the islands Japan calls the Northern Territories.
Tokyo protests
Japan protested Putin's visit, with Reuters reporting that Japan's foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi said, "The northern territories, including Etorofu, are Japan's inherent territory both historically and based on international law," and added, "Japan strongly protests this visit."
dw reported that Putin visited the fish-processing plant on the island known as Iturup in Russian and Etorofu in Japanese, where he was given caviar.
Anadolu Ajansı said Putin told Japan that it continued to maintain territorial claims against his country and that Moscow had constructive relations with Tokyo on the issue during former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration.
Anadolu Ajansı quoted Putin saying, "Now we see, unfortunately, changes in positions which, I emphasize, were not provoked in any way on our part," as the visit took place during a wider period of tensions.
dw said the unresolved dispute over four islands prevented Moscow and Tokyo from signing a formal World War II peace treaty.
Dispute and next steps
The visit sharpened the long-running territorial dispute over four southern Kuril islands—Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islets—which are controlled by Russia but identified by Japan as the Northern Territories.
“The dispute has prevented the signing of a peace treaty”
Anadolu Ajansı said the dispute has prevented the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries since World War II and that tensions have deepened in recent years amid Japan’s sanctions against Russia over the Russia-Ukraine war.
dw said Russian-Japanese relations suffered another major blow after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022, and it described the Kuril archipelago as strategically located between Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and Japan's Hokkaido.
Reuters reported that Putin's trip came a day after major naval drills and a missile firing by ally North Korea, and it said the firing was followed by days ahead of major joint military exercises by Seoul and Washington long denounced by Pyongyang.
In the Reuters account, Putin’s itinerary included visiting the Yasny fish-processing plant on Iturup after overseeing navy drills, underscoring that the trip was framed around the disputed islands and their control.
