On August 13, 2026, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit to Iturup, one of the disputed Kuril Islands claimed by Japan, prompting a diplomatic protest from Tokyo.
A Strategic Journey to the Volcanic Archipelago
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the Kuril archipelago on Thursday, touching down on Iturup—known to Japan as Etorofu—during a broader tour of Siberia and the Russian Far East. According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, the Russian leader inspected local infrastructure, touring a fish processing plant, a hospital, and a local school. He also engaged directly with residents and held formal discussions with Valery Limarenko, the governor of Russia’s Sakhalin region.
The trip followed a stop on Sakhalin Island, where Putin observed the final part of drills conducted by Russia’s Pacific Fleet. Speaking from the deck of a participating warship, Putin asserted that the current status of the Kuril Islands “is enshrined in international documents as a reality that arose following the outcome of World War II,” while simultaneously noting that Russia had previously been prepared to seek a solution with the goal of concluding a peace treaty with Japan.
Tokyo’s Swift Retaliation and the Straining of Bilateral Ties
The reaction from the Japanese government was swift. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi formally lodged a strong protest, summoning Russian Ambassador Nikolay Nozdrev to the ministry in Tokyo. Motegi told the ambassador to “promptly report the message back to Moscow,” while emphasizing that international law and history both dictate that the Northern Territories, which incorporate Etorofu (Iturup) Island, belong inherently to Japan.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reinforced this stance, declaring that the visit is “incompatible with the Japanese position on the Northern Territories” and is “absolutely unacceptable.” Takaichi noted that the visit was a further blow to ties that have been strained since Tokyo imposed sanctions on Moscow following the sending of troops into Ukraine in February 2022. According to Takaichi, the visit has “further hardened Japanese public sentiment toward Russia and has made it more difficult to restore bilateral relations in the medium to long term.”
The Historical Roots of the Kuril Islands Impasse
The dispute over the four southernmost islands—which Japan calls the Northern Territories—dates back to the final days of World War II, when the Soviet Union took them from Japan. That unresolved sovereignty question has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities. Years of diplomatic negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement have failed to yield tangible outcomes, while Moscow has steadily increased its military presence across the Kuril chain in actions that seemed designed to highlight its uncompromising position on the conflict.
As a humanitarian gesture amidst these geopolitical rifts, Tokyo has continuously sought to preserve relations with Russia so that former Japanese citizens can travel back to the islands to visit family graves. However, high-level visits by senior Russian officials—such as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s trip to Iturup in 2021 and now Putin’s visit—continue to challenge those diplomatic frameworks, leaving the two nations deadlocked over a conflict originating in World War II.
