A long-simmering territorial dispute between Russia and Japan has flared back into international focus after Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first recorded visit to the contested Kuril Islands, drawing immediate condemnation from Tokyo. Russian state media confirmed Thursday that Putin traveled to Iturup, one of the four southern Kuril Islands that both nations claim as their own sovereign territory. Japan refers to the island as Etorofu and counts it among what it calls the Northern Territories. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi swiftly released a formal statement pushing back against the visit, arguing that the archipelago “is inherently Japanese territory both historically and under international law,” adding that the Japanese government formally and strongly protests the Russian leader’s trip.
The territorial row over the Kuril Islands, which stretch between Japan’s northernmost main island Hokkaido and Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, has stretched for nearly 80 years. The dispute traces its roots to the final days of World War II, when the Soviet Union seized control of the entire island chain and forcibly deported roughly 17,000 Japanese civilians who had settled the southern islands. Moscow has maintained administrative control of the territory ever since, and the unresolved conflict remains the primary barrier to Russia and Japan signing a formal post-WWII peace treaty.
Beyond the territorial disagreement, the islands hold major strategic importance for Russia’s military posture in the Pacific. Iturup itself hosts Russia’s primary military air base in the region, and the archipelago sits along critical maritime shipping lanes that connect the Sea of Okhotsk to the Pacific Ocean. Just last month, joint naval patrols by Russian and Chinese warships transited a strait within the Kuril Islands during a scheduled joint exercise, and Russia conducted large-scale military drills in waters adjacent to the islands last year — moves that already sparked sharp diplomatic pushback from Tokyo.
During his Thursday visit, Russian state media outlets reported that Putin interacted with local residents, sampled regional seafood including locally harvested fish roe, and highlighted ongoing development of the archipelago. For Moscow, the visit serves as a high-profile assertion of its sovereignty over the strategically critical territory, even as it reignites long-standing tensions with neighboring Japan that have blocked the two nations from normalizing full bilateral relations for decades.