Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit to the Kuril Islands on Thursday, a remote Pacific archipelago that Russia controls but Japan also claims, drawing an immediate diplomatic protest from Tokyo.

Putin travelled to Iturup, known in Japan as Etorofu and the largest of the four southernmost islands at the centre of the dispute. According to Russian state media, he visited a fish-processing plant, a hospital and a school, and spoke briefly with local residents. He also met Valery Limarenko, governor of Russia's Sakhalin region, which administers the islands.

A decades-old territorial dispute

The Kuril Islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, were seized by the Soviet Union in the final days of World War Two in 1945. The unresolved dispute over their ownership has prevented Russia and Japan from ever signing a formal peace treaty, despite the war having ended eight decades ago. For readers unfamiliar with the geography, the islands form a volcanic chain running from Russia's Kamchatka peninsula down to Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responded swiftly, telling reporters that the visit "offends the sentiments of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable," according to The Moscow Times. She added that it "made it more difficult to restore relations in the medium to long term."

“"The Northern Territories, including Etorofu (Iturup) Island, are Japan's inherent territory both historically and under international law," said Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.”

Motegi summoned Russia's ambassador to Japan, Nikolai Nozdrev, to lodge what the foreign ministry described as a "strong protest," warning that the visit would have "an extremely negative impact" on relations between the two countries, as reported by the Moscow Times.

Relations already strained by the war in Ukraine

The visit lands at a time when ties between Tokyo and Moscow are already under considerable strain. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, Japan has joined other G7 nations, including Britain, France, Germany and Italy, in imposing sanctions on Russia while providing Kyiv with financial support and non-lethal defence aid.

Putin defended his government's position on Wednesday, calling Japan's sanctions "unprovoked" and rejecting the idea that Russia poses a threat to Tokyo. According to Al Jazeera, he said Japan "has identified Russia as a main source of threats," adding, "we are not threatening Japan... On the contrary, it has territorial claims against our country."

Putin's trip to the Kurils followed a stop on the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin on Wednesday, where the navy was conducting drills. There, he held a meeting described by Russian state agency RIA Novosti as focused on securing Russia's eastern borders, a sign that Moscow is keen to project military confidence in the Pacific region even as it remains engaged in the war against Ukraine.

For European readers, the episode is a reminder that Russia's confrontations are not confined to its western borders. Moscow's posture in the Pacific, an area of strategic interest to NATO ally Japan and to the United States, adds another front to the broader standoff between Russia and Western-aligned democracies that has defined international relations since 2022.

The last visit by a senior Russian leader to the islands was in 2010, when then-president Dmitry Medvedev travelled to Kunashir, another of the disputed isles, becoming the first Russian leader to do so and triggering a similar protest from Tokyo at the time.

This article is free to read. It always will be — no paywall, no account, no tracking.