In a high-profile move that has reignited a long-running territorial dispute between Russia and Japan, Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled Thursday to the Russian-controlled Kuril Islands chain — a territory claimed by Tokyo — marking his first public visit to the contested Pacific archipelago. The trip immediately drew a sharp diplomatic rebuke from Japanese officials.
Putin’s itinerary on Iturup, one of the four southernmost islands at the heart of the disagreement, included stops at a local fish processing facility, a public hospital, and a regional primary school. During the visit, he held brief informal exchanges with local residents and held official talks with Valery Limarenko, the governor of Russia’s Sakhalin Oblast, which administers the island chain.
The territorial standoff over the four southern islands stretches back to the end of World War II, when Soviet forces seized the territories from Japan at the close of the conflict. To this day, Japan refers to the four islands as its Northern Territories and maintains they are part of its sovereign territory. The unresolved dispute has prevented the two nations from signing a formal peace treaty to officially end World War II-era hostilities between them.
Despite more than seven decades of diplomatic negotiations aimed at resolving the disagreement, no breakthrough has been reached. In recent years, Moscow has significantly strengthened its military deployments across the Kuril Islands, a step widely interpreted as a demonstration of its unwavering claim to sovereignty over the chain.
Following news of Putin’s visit, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi issued a formal statement announcing Tokyo’s “strong protest” against the trip. “The Northern Territories, including Etorofu (Iturup) Island, are Japan’s inherent territory both historically and from the perspective of international law,” Motegi said. This is not the first time Japan has issued such a protest: in 2021, Tokyo similarly condemned a visit to Iturup by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
Putin’s trip to Iturup is part of a wider tour of Russia’s Far Eastern and Siberian regions. Ahead of arriving on the disputed island, the Russian president traveled to Sakhalin Island to observe the concluding phase of large-scale military drills conducted by Russia’s Pacific Fleet.