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Putin visits disputed Kuril Islands, drawing Japan's ire
🇨🇭 Switzerland /Conflict & Security

Putin visits disputed Kuril Islands, drawing Japan's ire

From Le Temps · () French

Translated from French, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Kuril Islands, a disputed territory with Japan, for the first time.
  • The visit angered Japan, whose government called it 'absolutely unacceptable,' with U.S. support.
  • The islands have been a point of contention since the Soviet Union annexed them after World War II, with both Russia and Japan citing historical treaties to support their claims.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit to the Kuril Islands, a volcanic archipelago claimed by both Russia and Japan, sparking anger from Tokyo. Putin's arrival on the islands, sixteen years after Dmitry Medvedev's visit in 2010, was met with strong condemnation from Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who, supported by the United States, denounced the trip as 'absolutely unacceptable.'

The historical weight of the dispute over the 56 islands, inhabited by 4,000 people, is immense. In 1945, just days after Japan's surrender ended the Pacific War, the Soviet Union invaded and annexed the islands, expelling 17,000 Japanese residents. Since then, irreconcilable narratives have emerged.

What beautiful weather! It feels like vacation!

— Vladimir PutinPutin's apparent casual remark upon arriving on the Kuril Islands, which belied the diplomatic sensitivity of his visit.

Russia bases its claim on the Yalta Conference of February 1945, where the Allies reportedly agreed the Kurils would be ceded to the USSR in exchange for its entry into the war against Japan. Conversely, Japan invokes the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda, which established the border between Tsarist Russia and Japan just beyond the four disputed islands. Twenty years later, Japan gained control of all Kuril Islands in exchange for abandoning Sakhalin, according to the Treaty of Saint Petersburg.

absolutely unacceptable

— Sanae TakaichiJapan's Prime Minister's denunciation of Putin's visit to the Kuril Islands.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Le Temps in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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