Putin visited Kuril to 'punish' Japan over Ukraine stance

Conflict Background & Triggers

Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a social media post that Putin's visit was "absolutely unacceptable" while referring to the islands, which it calls the "Northern Territories" as "inherently Japanese territory." Russia's Foreign Ministry said in response that the islands are an "integral part" of Russia . The Kuril islands were seized by Soviet troops two weeks after Japan's official surrender ending World War II on August 15, 1945, with the 17,300 Japanese residents forced to leave over the

following year. Putin toured, a school, a hospital and industrial facilities on the island of Iturup, which Japan refers to as Etorofu.

Operational Developments & Terrain

It also came just two days before the 81st anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent economic hardships gave Japan renewed hope that Moscow could be convinced to return the islands in return for economic assistance or even joint development of the region. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was arguably the most proactive Japanese leader on the issue, meeting with Putin on a number of occasions in an effort to convince the Russian leader to come around to Japan's way of thinking.

Strategic Objectives & Posture

However, all of these diplomatic efforts came to naught, with Russia amending its constitution in 2020 to ban the ceding of any part of Russian territory to a foreign power. Moscow's relations with Japan , further deteriorated after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of politics at Tokyo's Waseda University, told DW that these latest developments are just another nail in the coffin for Japan's ambition concerning the islands.

Analytical Prognosis

Putin tests Japan Shigemura believes that Putin – potentially in consort with China and North Korea – is attempting to weaken Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi because of the firm line she has taken on security issues in the region. He added that Putin is aware that Takaichi's domestic poll numbers are softening likely assesses the Japanese leader will not respond more forcefully than a protest. Japan condemns Putin visit to disputed Kuril Islands To view this video please enable JavaScript,

and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Shigemura added that Russia's revised constitution and deepening nationalist sentiment encouraged by state propaganda effectively makes it "impossible" for the islands to be returned to Japanese control.