MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the Kuril Islands for the first time, traveling to Iturup, one of the islands claimed by both Russia and Japan. The visit has renewed a long-running territorial dispute and prompted an immediate diplomatic protest from Tokyo.
Putin toured a fish-processing facility, a hospital and a school during his visit Thursday. He also met with residents and held talks with Valery Limarenko, governor of Russia’s Sakhalin region.
Japan considers Iturup, which it calls Etorofu, part of its Northern Territories and maintains that the islands are Japanese territory. Russia has controlled the islands since the Soviet Union seized them during the final days of World War II.
Japan condemns Putin’s visit
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tokyo had lodged a strong protest over the Russian president’s trip.
Japan maintains that the four southernmost Kuril Islands — Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai island group — belong to Japan under its historical and legal claims.
The territorial disagreement has remained one of the biggest obstacles to a formal peace treaty between Japan and Russia following World War II. Numerous rounds of negotiations over the decades have failed to produce a lasting settlement.
Tokyo also protested in 2021 after then-Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iturup.
Russia reinforces its position
Russia has strengthened its military presence across the Kuril Islands in recent years, reinforcing Moscow’s position that the territory is under Russian sovereignty.
Putin’s latest visit came during a broader tour of Russia’s Siberian and Far Eastern regions. Before traveling to Iturup, he visited Sakhalin Island, where he observed naval exercises involving Russia’s Pacific Fleet.
During remarks aboard a warship participating in the exercises, Putin defended Russia’s position on the islands, saying their current status reflects the outcome of World War II and is supported by international agreements.
At the same time, he said Moscow remained open to negotiations with Japan aimed at eventually reaching a peace treaty.
Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have deteriorated
Putin also recalled his past relationship with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who worked to improve relations between Japan and Russia and held numerous meetings with the Russian president over the territorial dispute.
Those efforts failed to resolve the competing claims, and relations between Moscow and Tokyo deteriorated sharply after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Japan joined Western nations in imposing sanctions on Russia, a move that Moscow has criticized.
Putin said Japan’s position has changed since the period when Moscow and Tokyo were pursuing closer ties, but insisted Russia remained interested in cooperation with its neighbors.
The latest presidential visit to Iturup is therefore significant beyond its symbolic value. While Moscow views the islands as settled Russian territory, Tokyo continues to regard them as Japanese territory, leaving the decades-old dispute unresolved.
