Stumbling Islands: Will Russia give Japan the South Kuriles. Will Putin hand over disputed islands to Japan?

Image copyright RIA Image caption Before Putin and Abe, the issue of signing a peace treaty between Russia and Japan was discussed by all their predecessors - to no avail

During a two-day visit to Nagato and Tokyo, the Russian president will agree with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on investments. The main question - about the ownership of the Kuril Islands - as usual, will be postponed indefinitely, experts say.

Abe became the second G7 leader to host Putin after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The visit was supposed to take place two years ago, but was canceled due to sanctions against Russia, supported by Japan.

What is the essence of the dispute between Japan and Russia?

Abe is making progress in a long-standing territorial dispute in which Japan claims the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, as well as the Habomai archipelago (in Russia, this name does not exist, the archipelago, together with Shikotan, are united under the name of the Lesser Kuril Ridge).

The Japanese elite is well aware that Russia will never return two large islands, so they are ready to take a maximum of two small ones. But how to explain to society that they forever abandon the big islands? Alexander Gabuev, expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center

At the end of World War II, in which Japan fought on the side of Nazi Germany, the USSR expelled 17,000 Japanese from the islands; no peace treaty was signed between Moscow and Tokyo.

The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 between the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition and Japan established the sovereignty of the USSR over South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, but Tokyo and Moscow did not agree on what to understand by the Kuriles.

Tokyo considers Iturup, Kunashir and Habomai to be its illegally occupied "northern territories". Moscow considers these islands part of the Kuril Islands and has repeatedly stated that their current status is not subject to revision.

In 2016, Shinzo Abe flew to Russia twice (to Sochi and Vladivostok), he and Putin also met at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima.

In early December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow and Tokyo had similar positions on the peace treaty. In an interview with Japanese journalists, Vladimir Putin called the absence of a peace treaty with Japan an anachronism that "should be eliminated."

He also said that the foreign ministries of the two countries need to resolve "purely technical issues" among themselves so that the Japanese can visit the southern Kuriles without visas.

However, Moscow is embarrassed that in the event of the return of the southern Kuriles, US military bases may appear there. The head of the National Security Council of Japan, Shotaro Yachi, did not rule out such a possibility in a conversation with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, the Japanese newspaper Asahi wrote on Wednesday.

Should we wait for the return of the Kuriles?

The short answer is no. "We should not expect any breakthrough agreements, and ordinary ones too, on the issue of ownership of the southern Kuriles," said former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Kunadze.

"The expectations of the Japanese side, as usual, are at odds with the intentions of Russia," Kunadze said in an interview with the BBC. "President Putin has repeatedly said in the last days before leaving for Japan that the problem of belonging to the Kuriles does not exist for Russia, that the Kuriles are , in fact, a war trophy following the results of the Second World War, and even the fact that Russia's rights to the Kuriles are secured by international treaties."

The latter, according to Kunadze, is a moot point and depends on the interpretation of these treaties.

“Putin is referring to the agreements reached in Yalta in February 1945. These agreements were political in nature and assumed the appropriate contractual and legal formalization. It took place in San Francisco in 1951. The Soviet Union did not sign a peace treaty with Japan then. , there is no other consolidation of Russia's rights in the territories that Japan renounced under the San Francisco Treaty," the diplomat sums up.

"The parties are trying as much as possible to blow off the ball of mutual expectations of the public and show that there will be no breakthrough," comments Alexander Gabuev, an expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

"The red line of Russia: Japan recognizes the results of World War II, renounces claims to the southern Kuriles. As a gesture of goodwill, we give Japan two small islands, and on Kunashir and Iturup we can make visa-free entry, a free zone for joint economic development - everything that anything," he believes. "Russia cannot give up two large islands, because it will be a loss, these islands are of economic importance, a lot of money has been invested there, there is a large population, the straits between these islands are used by Russian submarines when they go out to patrol the Pacific Ocean" .

Japan, according to Gabuev's observations, has softened its position on disputed territories in recent years.

“The Japanese elite is well aware that Russia will never return two large islands, so they are ready to take a maximum of two small ones. But how to explain to society that they are forever abandoning large islands? large. For Russia, this is unacceptable, we want to resolve the issue once and for all. These two red lines are not yet close enough to expect a breakthrough," the expert believes.

What else will be discussed?

The Kuriles are not the only topic discussed by Putin and Abe. Russia needs foreign investment in the Far East.

According to the Japanese edition of Yomiuri, due to sanctions, trade between the two countries has decreased. Thus, imports from Russia to Japan decreased by 27.3% - from 2.61 trillion yen ($23 billion) in 2014 to 1.9 trillion yen ($17 billion) in 2015. And exports to Russia by 36.4% - from 972 billion yen (8.8 billion dollars) in 2014 to 618 billion yen (5.6 billion dollars) in 2015.

The Japanese government intends to acquire a part of the gas fields of the Russian company Novatek, as well as a part of the shares of Rosneft through the state oil, gas and metals corporation JOGMEC.

It is expected that dozens of commercial agreements will be signed during the visit, and the working breakfast of the Russian president and the Japanese prime minister will be attended, in particular, by the head of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev, the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller, the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, the head of the Russian Fund for Direct investments Kirill Dmitriev, entrepreneurs Oleg Deripaska and Leonid Mikhelson.

So far, Russia and Japan are only exchanging pleasantries. Whether at least part of the economic memorandums will come true, it will become clear whether they can also agree on something.

The Japanese authorities demand from Russia the fulfillment of the obligations assumed in 2001 on the disputed islands of the Kuril chain. The problem of the Kuriles again becomes relevant.

To the root of the problem:

One of the first documents regulating Russian-Japanese relations was the Shimoda Treaty, signed on January 26, 1855. According to the second article of the treatise, the border was established between the islands of Urup and Iturup - that is, all four islands now claimed by Japan today were recognized as the possession of Japan. Since 1981, the date of the signing of the Shimoda Treaty has been celebrated in Japan as "Northern Territories Day". Another thing is that, relying on the Shimoda treatise as one of the fundamental documents, in Japan they forget about one important point. In 1904, Japan, having attacked the Russian squadron in Port Arthur and unleashed the Russo-Japanese War, itself violated the terms of the treaty, which provided for friendship and good neighborly relations between states. The Shimoda treaty did not determine the ownership of Sakhalin, where both Russian and Japanese settlements were located, and by the mid-70s a solution to this issue was also ripe. The St. Petersburg Treaty was signed, which was ambiguously assessed by both parties. Under the terms of the treaty, all the Kuril Islands were now completely withdrawn to Japan, and Russia received full control over Sakhalin. Then, following the results of the Russo-Japanese War, according to the Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan ceded the southern part of Sakhalin up to the 50th parallel. In 1925, the Soviet-Japanese Convention was signed in Beijing, generally confirming the terms of the Portsmouth Treaty. As is known, the late 1930s and early 1940s were extremely tense in Soviet-Japanese relations and were associated with a series of military conflicts of various scales. The situation began to change by 1945, when the Axis began to suffer heavy defeats and the prospect of losing the Second World War became more and more obvious. Against this background, the question arose about the post-war structure of the world.

So, according to the terms of the Yalta Conference, the USSR was obliged to enter the war against Japan, and South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands went to the Soviet Union. True, at the same time, the Japanese leadership was ready to voluntarily cede these territories in exchange for the neutrality of the USSR and the supply of Soviet oil. The USSR did not take such a very slippery step. The defeat of Japan by that time was a matter of maybe not a quick, but still time. And most importantly, by refraining from decisive action, the Soviet Union would actually hand the situation in the Far East into the hands of the United States and its allies. By the way, this also applies to the events of the Soviet-Japanese War and the Kuril landing operation itself, which was not originally prepared. When it became known about the preparations for the landing of American troops on the Kuriles, the Kuril landing operation was urgently prepared in a day. Fierce fighting in August 1945 ended with the surrender of the Japanese garrisons in the Kuriles.

Fortunately, the Japanese command did not know the real number of Soviet paratroopers and, without fully using their overwhelming numerical superiority, capitulated. At the same time, the South Sakhalin offensive operation was also carried out. So, at the cost of considerable losses, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands became part of the USSR.

San Francisco

The peace treaty between the victorious powers and Japan was signed in San Francisco on September 8, 1951. Japan, according to this document, renounced all rights to the Kuril Islands. However, the Soviet delegation did not sign this treaty. A number of researchers consider this a serious mistake of Soviet diplomacy, but there were very good reasons for this. Firstly, the document did not specify what the Kuril Islands were with their enumeration - the American side stated that only a special international court could establish this. Yes, and the head of the Japanese delegation, at the suggestion of the Americans, said that Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Khabomai are not included in the Kuril Islands.

What is also interesting is that Japan refused the rights to the islands, but it did not follow from the document to whom these islands were transferred .... in fact, the agreement did not confirm the right of the USSR to the Kuriles, but transferred the problem into an indefinite direction. "Favorite Japanese document" On October 19, 1956, the Soviet-Japanese declaration was signed, designed to prepare the basis for the preparation of a peace treaty. On this wave, the Soviet side, "meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer of the islands of Habomai and Shikotan (Shikotan) to Japan, however, that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will be made after the signing of the peace treaty." Like many legal documents, the declaration, which Japanese politicians are so fond of recalling these days, has a number of subtleties. Firstly, if the USSR is ready to transfer, then such a document recognizes the very belonging of the islands to the Soviet Union. Secondly, the transfer must take place after the signing of the peace treaty. And thirdly, it was only about the two southern islands of Habomai and Shikotan. For 1956, both sides assessed such a declaration as a positive breakthrough in Soviet-Japanese relations, which alarmed the United States to no small extent. Under pressure from Washington, the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan was replaced, and the course was taken to sign the US-Japanese military treaty, which was finalized in 1960. Then for the first time from the Japanese side, not without the help of the United States, demands were voiced for the transfer of not two, but all four islands. The United States, however, pointed out that the Yalta agreements were declarative, but by no means binding. Since the treaty included clauses on the deployment of American bases in Japan, a memorandum from the government of the USSR to the government of Japan dated January 27, 1960 noted: "The new military treaty signed by the government of Japan is directed against the Soviet Union, as well as against the People's Republic of China, cannot contribute to that the transfer of the islands indicated to Japan should expand the territory used by foreign troops. In view of this, the Soviet government considers it necessary to declare that only on the condition of the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the territory of Japan and the signing of a peace treaty between the USSR and Japan, the islands of Habomai and Sikotan will be transferred to Japan, as provided for by the Joint Declaration. But, as you know, American troops are still stationed on the Japanese islands, and the Japanese government, constantly referring to the declaration, demands the transfer of not two, but four islands before the signing of peace.

From "perestroika" to our days

In the context of the weakening of the USSR, in the second half of the 1980s, the issue of the transfer of the Kuril Islands was again raised by Japan. Unfortunately, a number of steps taken by Soviet and young Russian diplomacy did not meet the interests of the state. One of the key points was the recognition of the problem of the islands itself and the conduct in a manner favorable to the opposite side. In fact, the topic of the Kuril Islands could become a bargaining chip in the politics of both Gorbachev and Yeltsin, who counted on decent material compensation in exchange for the islands. And if the former led an accelerated process, then Yeltsin allowed the transfer of the islands in the distant future (15-20 years). However, it was impossible not to take into account the colossal costs that would inevitably manifest themselves inside the country in the event of territorial concessions. Such a pendulum policy continued for almost the entire "Yeltsin era", Russian diplomacy moved away from a direct solution to the problem, which, under the conditions of the crisis, had a negative impact in all respects. At the present stage, there is no serious progress in the issue of the Kuril Islands due to the extremely uncompromising position of Japan, which sets as a precondition the transfer of all four islands, and then the discussion of the signing of a peace treaty. What further conditions the Japanese Foreign Ministry can put forward can only be guessed at. In any case, the immediate solution of this issue is unlikely.
Especially given the persistent state foreign policy pursued by the country's leadership at the present time, aimed at strengthening the territorial integrity of Russia and strengthening its role in the geopolitical situation in the world.

To the root of the problem

One of the first documents regulating Russian-Japanese relations was the Shimoda Treaty, signed on January 26, 1855. According to the second article of the treatise, the border was established between the islands of Urup and Iturup - that is, all four islands now claimed by Japan today were recognized as the possession of Japan.

Since 1981, the date of the signing of the Shimoda Treaty has been celebrated in Japan as "Northern Territories Day". Another thing is that, relying on the Shimoda treatise as one of the fundamental documents, in Japan they forget about one important point. In 1904, Japan, having attacked the Russian squadron in Port Arthur and unleashed the Russo-Japanese War, itself violated the terms of the treaty, which provided for friendship and good neighborly relations between states.

The Shimoda treaty did not determine the ownership of Sakhalin, where both Russian and Japanese settlements were located, and by the mid-70s a solution to this issue was also ripe. The St. Petersburg Treaty was signed, which was ambiguously assessed by both parties. Under the terms of the treaty, all the Kuril Islands were now completely withdrawn to Japan, and Russia received full control over Sakhalin.

Then, following the results of the Russo-Japanese War, according to the Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan ceded the southern part of Sakhalin up to the 50th parallel.

In 1925, the Soviet-Japanese Convention was signed in Beijing, generally confirming the terms of the Portsmouth Treaty. As is known, the late 1930s and early 1940s were extremely tense in Soviet-Japanese relations and were associated with a series of military conflicts of various scales.

The situation began to change by 1945, when the Axis began to suffer heavy defeats and the prospect of losing the Second World War became more and more obvious. Against this background, the question arose about the post-war structure of the world. So, according to the terms of the Yalta Conference, the USSR was obliged to enter the war against Japan, and South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands went to the Soviet Union.

True, at the same time, the Japanese leadership was ready to voluntarily cede these territories in exchange for the neutrality of the USSR and the supply of Soviet oil. The USSR did not take such a very slippery step. The defeat of Japan by that time was a matter of maybe not a quick, but still time. And most importantly, by refraining from decisive action, the Soviet Union would actually hand the situation in the Far East into the hands of the United States and its allies.

By the way, this also applies to the events of the Soviet-Japanese War and the Kuril landing operation itself, which was not originally prepared. When it became known about the preparations for the landing of American troops on the Kuriles, the Kuril landing operation was urgently prepared in a day. Fierce fighting in August 1945 ended with the surrender of the Japanese garrisons in the Kuriles.

Fortunately, the Japanese command did not know the real number of Soviet paratroopers and, without fully using their overwhelming numerical superiority, capitulated. At the same time, the South Sakhalin offensive operation was also carried out. So, at the cost of considerable losses, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands became part of the USSR.

There are also territorial disputes in the modern world. Only the Asia-Pacific region has several of these. The most serious of them is the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands. Russia and Japan are its main participants. The situation on the islands, which are considered to be a kind of between these states, has the appearance of a dormant volcano. No one knows when he will start his "eruption".

Discovery of the Kuril Islands

The archipelago, located on the border between and the Pacific Ocean, is the Kuril Islands. It stretches from about. Hokkaido The territory of the Kuril Islands consists of 30 large land areas surrounded on all sides by the waters of the sea and ocean, and a large number of small ones.

The first expedition from Europe, which ended up near the shores of the Kuriles and Sakhalin, was the Dutch navigators led by M. G. Friz. This event took place in 1634. They not only made the discovery of these lands, but also proclaimed them as Dutch territory.

The explorers of the Russian Empire also studied Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands:

• 1646 - discovery of the northwestern Sakhalin coast by the expedition of V. D. Poyarkov;
• 1697 - VV Atlasov becomes aware of the existence of the islands.

At the same time, Japanese sailors began to sail to the southern islands of the archipelago. By the end of the 18th century, their trading posts and fishing trips appeared here, and a little later - scientific expeditions. A special role in the research belongs to M. Tokunai and M. Rinzō. Around the same time, an expedition from France and England appeared on the Kuril Islands.

Island discovery problem

The history of the Kuril Islands has still preserved discussions about the issue of their discovery. The Japanese claim that they were the first to find these lands in 1644. The National Museum of Japanese History carefully preserves a map of that time, on which the corresponding symbols are applied. According to them, Russian people appeared there a little later, in 1711. In addition, the Russian map of this area, dated 1721, designates it as "Japanese Islands." That is, Japan was the discoverer of these lands.

The Kuril Islands in Russian history were first mentioned in the reporting document of N. I. Kolobov to Tsar Alexei of 1646 on the peculiarities of wanderings. Also, data from chronicles and maps of medieval Holland, Scandinavia and Germany testify to indigenous Russian villages.

By the end of the 18th century, they were officially annexed to the Russian lands, and the population of the Kuril Islands acquired Russian citizenship. At the same time, state taxes began to be collected here. But neither then, nor a little later, was any bilateral Russian-Japanese treaty or international agreement signed that would secure Russia's rights to these islands. In addition, their southern part was not under the power and control of the Russians.

The Kuril Islands and relations between Russia and Japan

The history of the Kuril Islands in the early 1840s is characterized by the revitalization of British, American and French expeditions in the Northwest Pacific. This is the reason for a new surge of Russia's interest in establishing diplomatic and commercial relations with the Japanese side. Vice Admiral E. V. Putyatin in 1843 initiated the idea of ​​equipping a new expedition to the Japanese and Chinese territories. But it was rejected by Nicholas I.

Later, in 1844, I.F. Kruzenshtern supported him. But this did not receive the support of the emperor.

During this period, the Russian-American company took active steps to establish good relations with the neighboring country.

First treaty between Japan and Russia

The problem of the Kuril Islands was resolved in 1855, when Japan and Russia signed the first treaty. Before that, a rather lengthy negotiation process took place. It began with the arrival of Putyatin in Shimoda at the end of the autumn of 1854. But soon the negotiations were interrupted by an intense earthquake. A rather serious complication was the support provided by the French and English rulers to the Turks.

The main provisions of the agreement:

• establishment of diplomatic relations between these countries;
• protection and patronage, as well as ensuring the inviolability of the property of citizens of one power in the territory of another;
• drawing the border between the states located near the islands of Urup and Iturup of the Kuril archipelago (preservation of indivisibility);
• the opening of some ports for Russian sailors, the permission to conduct trade here under the supervision of local officials;
• the appointment of a Russian consul in one of these ports;
• granting the right of extraterritoriality;
• receiving by Russia the status of the most favored nation.

Japan also received permission from Russia to trade in the port of Korsakov, located on the territory of Sakhalin, for 10 years. The country's consulate was established here. At the same time, any trade and customs duties were excluded.

Attitude of countries to the Treaty

A new stage, which includes the history of the Kuril Islands, is the signing of the Russian-Japanese treaty of 1875. It caused mixed reviews from representatives of these countries. Citizens of Japan believed that the country's government had done wrong by exchanging Sakhalin for "an insignificant ridge of pebbles" (as they called the Kuriles).

Others simply put forward statements about the exchange of one territory of the country for another. Most of them were inclined to think that sooner or later the day would come when the war did come to the Kuril Islands. The dispute between Russia and Japan will escalate into hostilities, and battles will begin between the two countries.

The Russian side assessed the situation in a similar way. Most representatives of this state believed that the entire territory belongs to them as discoverers. Therefore, the treaty of 1875 did not become the act that once and for all determined the delimitation between the countries. It also failed to be a means of preventing further conflicts between them.

Russo-Japanese War

The history of the Kuril Islands continues, and the next impetus for the complication of Russian-Japanese relations was the war. It took place despite the existence of agreements concluded between these states. In 1904, Japan's treacherous attack on Russian territory took place. This happened before the start of hostilities was officially announced.

The Japanese fleet attacked the Russian ships that were in the outer roadstead of Port Artois. Thus, some of the most powerful ships belonging to the Russian squadron were disabled.

The most significant events of 1905:

• the largest land battle of Mukden in the history of mankind at that time, which took place on February 5-24 and ended with the withdrawal of the Russian army;
• The Tsushima battle at the end of May, which ended with the destruction of the Russian Baltic squadron.

Despite the fact that the course of events in this war was in the best possible way in favor of Japan, she was forced to enter into peace negotiations. This was due to the fact that the country's economy was very depleted by military events. On August 9, a peace conference between the participants in the war began in Portsmouth.

Reasons for Russia's defeat in the war

Despite the fact that the conclusion of the peace treaty determined to some extent the situation in which the Kuril Islands were, the dispute between Russia and Japan did not stop. This caused a significant number of protests in Tokyo, but the effects of the war were very tangible for the country.

During this conflict, the Russian Pacific Fleet was practically completely destroyed, more than 100 thousand of its soldiers were killed. There was also a stop to the expansion of the Russian state to the East. The results of the war were indisputable evidence of how weak the tsarist policy was.

This was one of the main reasons for the revolutionary actions in 1905-1907.

The most important reasons for the defeat of Russia in the war of 1904-1905.

1. The presence of diplomatic isolation of the Russian Empire.
2. The absolute unpreparedness of the country's troops to conduct combat acts in difficult situations.
3. The shameless betrayal of domestic stakeholders and the mediocrity of most Russian generals.
4. The high level of development and readiness of the military and economic spheres of Japan.

Until our time, the unresolved Kuril issue is a great danger. After World War II, no peace treaty was signed following its results. From this dispute, the Russian people, like the population of the Kuril Islands, have absolutely no benefit. Moreover, this state of affairs contributes to the generation of hostility between countries. It is precisely the speedy resolution of such a diplomatic issue as the problem of the Kuril Islands that is the key to good neighborly relations between Russia and Japan.

(currently the Freeze Strait). De Vries mistakenly considered the island of Iturup to be the northeastern tip of Hokkaido, and Urup to be part of the American continent. On June 20, Dutch sailors landed on Urup for the first time. On June 23, 1643, de Vries erected a wooden cross on the flat top of the high mountain of Urupa Island and declared the land to be the property of the Dutch East India Company.

In Russia, the first official mention of the Kuril Islands dates back to 1646, when the Cossack Nekhoroshko Ivanovich Kolobov, a member of Ivan Moskvitin's expedition to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (Lama) spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the islands. New information about the Kuril Islands appeared after the campaign of Vladimir Atlasov to Kamchatka in 1697, during which the Russians first saw the northern Kuril Islands from the southwestern coast of Kamchatka. In August 1711, a detachment of Kamchatka Cossacks led by Danila Antsiferov and Ivan Kozyrevsky landed for the first time on the northernmost island of Shumshu, defeating a detachment of local Ainu here, and then on the second island of the ridge - Paramushir.

In 1738-1739, a scientific expedition took place under the leadership of the captain of the Russian fleet Martyn Petrovich Shpanberg. This expedition was the first to map the Lesser Kuril Ridge (the islands of Shikotan and Habomai). As a result of the expedition, the atlas "General Map of Russia" was compiled with the image of 40 islands of the Kuril archipelago. After the publication in Europe in the 1740s of the news about the discovery of the Kuril Islands by Russian sailors, governments of other powers requested permission from the Russian authorities to visit the islands of this area with their ships. In 1772, the Russian authorities placed the Kuril Islands under the control of the chief commander of Kamchatka, and in 1786, Empress Catherine II issued a decree on the protection ("preservation") of the rights to "lands open to Russian navigators", among which was called the "ridge of the Kuril Islands, regarding Japan". This decree was published in foreign languages. After publication, not a single state challenged Russia's rights to the Kuril Islands. On the islands, state signs-crosses and copper plaques with the inscription "Land of Russian possession" were installed.

19th century

General map of the State of Japan, 1809

On February 7, 1855, Japan and Russia signed the first Russian-Japanese treaty - the Shimoda Treaty on Trade and Borders. The document established the border of countries between the islands of Iturup and Urup. The islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group of islands departed to Japan, and the rest were recognized as Russian possessions. That is why February 7 has been celebrated annually in Japan as Northern Territories Day since 1981. At the same time, questions about the status of Sakhalin remained unresolved, which led to conflicts between Russian and Japanese merchants and sailors.

Russo-Japanese War

Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands on a 1912 map

On February 2, 1946, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was formed in these territories as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR, which on January 2, 1947 became part of the newly formed Sakhalin Region as part of the RSFSR.

The history of the Kuriles belonging to the Russian-Japanese treaties

Joint Declaration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan (1956). Article 9

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan agreed to continue, after the restoration of normal diplomatic relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan, negotiations on the conclusion of a Peace Treaty.

At the same time, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer of the Habomai Islands and the Shikotan Islands to Japan, however, that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will be made after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan .

On January 19, 1960, Japan signed the Treaty on Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan with the United States, thereby extending the “Security Pact”, signed on September 8, 1951, which was the legal basis for the presence of American troops on Japanese territory. On January 27, 1960, the USSR stated that since this agreement was directed against the USSR and the PRC, the Soviet government refused to consider the transfer of the islands to Japan, since this would lead to the expansion of the territory used by American troops.

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the issue of belonging to the southern group of the Kuril Islands Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Khabomai (in the Japanese interpretation - the issue of the "northern territories") remained the main stumbling block in Japanese-Soviet (later Japanese-Russian) relations. At the same time, until the end of the Cold War, the USSR did not recognize the existence of a territorial dispute with Japan and always considered the southern Kuril Islands as an integral part of its territory.

On April 18, 1991, during a visit to Japan, Mikhail Gorbachev for the first time actually acknowledged the existence of a territorial problem.

In 1993, the Tokyo Declaration on Russian-Japanese Relations was signed, which states that Russia is the legal successor of the USSR and all agreements signed between the USSR and Japan will be recognized by both Russia and Japan. It was also recorded the desire of the parties to resolve the issue of the territorial belonging of the four southern islands of the Kuril chain, which in Japan was regarded as a success and, to a certain extent, gave rise to hopes for a resolution of the issue in favor of Tokyo.

XXI Century

On November 14, 2004, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the eve of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan, stated that Russia, as the successor state of the USSR, recognizes the 1956 Declaration as existing and is ready to conduct territorial negotiations with Japan on its basis. This formulation of the question caused a lively discussion among Russian politicians. Vladimir Putin supported the Foreign Ministry's position, stipulating that Russia "will fulfill all its obligations" only "to the extent that our partners are ready to fulfill these agreements." Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in response that Japan was not satisfied with the transfer of only two islands: "If the ownership of all the islands is not determined, the peace treaty will not be signed." At the same time, the Japanese prime minister promised to show flexibility in determining the timing of the transfer of the islands.

On December 14, 2004, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expressed readiness to assist Japan in resolving the dispute with Russia over the southern Kuriles.

In 2005, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his readiness to resolve the territorial dispute in accordance with the provisions of the Soviet-Japanese declaration of 1956, that is, with the transfer of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan, but the Japanese side did not compromise.

On August 16, 2006, a Japanese fishing schooner was detained by Russian border guards. The schooner refused to obey the commands of the border guards, warning fire was opened on it. During the incident, one crew member of the schooner was fatally shot in the head. This caused a sharp protest from the Japanese side, it demanded the immediate release of the body of the deceased and the release of the crew. Both sides said the incident took place in their own territorial waters. This is the first recorded death in 50 years of the dispute over the islands.

December 13, 2006. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Taro Aso, at a meeting of the foreign policy committee of the lower house of representatives of the parliament, spoke in favor of dividing the southern part of the disputed Kuril Islands with Russia in half. There is a point of view that in this way the Japanese side hopes to solve a long-standing problem in Russian-Japanese relations. However, immediately after Taro Aso's statement, the Japanese Foreign Ministry disavowed his words, emphasizing that they were misinterpreted.

On July 2, 2007, to reduce tension between the two countries, Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki proposed, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Naryshkin accepted, Japan's proposals for assistance in the development of the Far East region. It is planned to develop nuclear energy, lay optical Internet cables across Russia to connect Europe and Asia, develop infrastructure, as well as cooperation in the field of tourism, ecology and security. This proposal was previously considered in June 2007 at a G8 meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On May 21, 2009, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, during a meeting of the upper house of parliament, called the southern Kuriles "illegally occupied territories" and said that he was waiting for proposals from Russia on approaches to solving this problem. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko commented on this statement as "illegal" and "politically incorrect".

On June 11, 2009, the lower house of the Japanese parliament approved amendments to the law "On special measures to facilitate the resolution of the issue of the Northern Territories and the like", which contain a provision on Japan's ownership of the four islands of the South Kuril ridge. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling such actions by the Japanese side inappropriate and unacceptable. On June 24, 2009, a State Duma statement was published, in which, in particular, the opinion of the State Duma was stated that under the current conditions, efforts to solve the problem of a peace treaty, in fact, had lost both political and practical perspective and would make sense only in case of disavowal of the amendments adopted by the Japanese parliamentarians. On July 3, 2009, the amendments were approved by the Upper House of the Japanese Diet.

On September 14, 2009, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said that he hoped to make progress in negotiations with Russia on the southern Kuriles "over the next six months to a year".

On September 23, 2009, at a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Hatoyama spoke of his desire to resolve the territorial dispute and conclude a peace treaty with Russia.

February 7, 2010 On the day of February 7, since 1982, Japan has celebrated the Day of the Northern Territories (as the southern Kuriles are called). Cars with loudspeakers run around Tokyo, from which demands are made to return the four islands to Japan and the music of military marches. Another highlight of the day is a speech by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to members of the movement for the return of the northern territories. This year, Hatoyama said that Japan was not happy with the return of only two islands and that he would make every effort to return all four islands within the current generations. He also noted that it is very important for Russia to be friends with such an economically and technologically advanced country as Japan. There were no words that these were “illegally occupied territories”.

On April 1, 2010, Andrei Nesterenko, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, made a comment in which he announced the approval on April 1 by the Government of Japan of changes and additions to the so-called. "Basic course to promote the solution of the problem of the northern territories" and stated that the repetition of unfounded territorial claims against Russia cannot benefit the dialogue on the conclusion of the Russian-Japanese peace treaty, as well as the maintenance of normal contacts between the southern Kuril Islands, which are part of the Sakhalin regions of Russia, and Japan.

On September 11, 2011, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev visited the southern Kuril Islands, where he held a meeting with the leadership of the Sakhalin Region, and visited the frontier post on Tanfilyev Island, closest to Japan. At a meeting in the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk on the island of Kunashir, issues of ensuring the security of the region, the construction of civil and border infrastructure facilities, security issues during the construction and operation of the port berthing complex in Yuzhno-Kurilsk and the reconstruction of Mendeleevo Airport were discussed. Osamu Fujimura, Secretary General of the Government of Japan, said that Nikolai Patrushev's visit to the southern Kuril Islands causes deep regret in Japan.

On February 14, 2012, the Chief of the Russian General Staff of the Armed Forces, Army General Nikolai Makarov, announced that the Russian Defense Ministry would create two military camps in the southern Kuril Islands (Kunashir and Iturup) in 2013.

On October 26, 2017, Frants Klintsevich, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, announced that Russia plans to create a naval base on the Kuril Islands.

Basic position of Russia

The position of both countries on the issue of ownership of the islands. Russia considers all of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to be its territory. Japan considers the southern Kuriles its territory, the northern Kuriles and Sakhalin - the territory of Russia.

Moscow's principled position is that the southern Kuril Islands became part of the USSR, of which Russia became the successor, are an integral part of the territory of the Russian Federation on legal grounds following the results of the Second World War and enshrined in the UN Charter, and Russian sovereignty over them, which has a corresponding international -legal confirmation, no doubt. According to media reports, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in 2012 said that the problem of the Kuril Islands could be resolved in Russia only through a referendum. Subsequently, the Russian Foreign Ministry officially refuted the raising of the question of any referendum: “This is a rude distortion of the words of the minister. We regard such interpretations as provocative. No sane politician would ever put this issue to a referendum." In addition, the Russian authorities once again officially declared the unconditional indisputability of the belonging of the islands to Russia, stating that in connection with this, the question of any referendum cannot be, by definition. On February 18, 2014, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that "Russia does not consider the situation with Japan on the issue of borders as some kind of territorial dispute." The Russian Federation, the minister explained, proceeds from the reality that there are generally recognized and enshrined in the UN Charter results of the Second World War. On August 22, 2015, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in connection with his visit to Iturup Island, formulated the position of Russia, stating that the Kuril Islands "are part of the Russian Federation, are included in the subject of the Russian Federation called the Sakhalin Region, and therefore we have visited, are visiting and will visit the Kuriles" .

Base position of Japan

Japan's basic position on this issue is formulated in four points:

(1) The Northern Territories are the centuries-old territories of Japan that continue to be under the illegal occupation of Russia. The Government of the United States of America also consistently supports Japan's position.

(2) In order to resolve this issue and conclude a peace treaty as quickly as possible, Japan is vigorously continuing negotiations with Russia on the basis of the agreements already reached, such as the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration of 1956, the Tokyo Declaration of 1993, the Irkutsk Statement of 2001, and the Japan- Russian action plan 2003.

(3) According to the Japanese position, if the Northern Territories are confirmed to belong to Japan, Japan is ready to be flexible in terms of the time and procedure for their return. In addition, since the Japanese citizens living in the Northern Territories were forcibly evicted by Joseph Stalin, Japan is ready to come to an agreement with the Russian government so that the Russian citizens living there will not suffer the same tragedy. In other words, after the return of the islands to Japan, Japan intends to respect the rights, interests and desires of the Russians now living on the islands.

(4) The Government of Japan has called on the people of Japan not to visit the Northern Territories outside of the visa-free procedure until the territorial dispute is resolved. Likewise, Japan cannot allow any activity, including economic activity by third parties, that could be considered subject to Russian “jurisdiction” or allow activity that would imply Russian “jurisdiction” over the Northern Territories. Japan has a policy of taking appropriate measures to prevent such activities.

Original text (English)

Japan's Basic Position

(1) The Northern Territories are inherent territories of Japan that continues to be illegally occupied by Russia. The Government of the United States of America has also consistently supported Japan's position.

(2) In order to solve this issue and to conclude a peace treaty as soon as possible, Japan has energetically continued negotiations with Russia on the basis of the agreements and documents created by the two sides so far, such as the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration of 1956, the Tokyo Declaration of 1993, the Irkutsk Statement of 2001 and the Japan-Russia Action Plan of 2003.

(3) Japan's position is that if the attribution of the Northern Territories to Japan is confirmed, Japan is prepared to respond flexibly to the timing and manner of their actual return. In addition, since Japanese citizens who once lived in the Northern Territories were forcibly displaced by Joseph Stalin, Japan is ready to forge a settlement with the Russian government so that the Russian citizens living there will not experience the same tragedy. rights, interests and wishes of the Russian current residents on the islands.

(4) The Japanese government has requested the Japanese people not to enter the Northern Territories without using the non-visa visit frameworks until the territorial issue is resolved. Similarly, Japan cannot allow any activities, including economic activities by a third party, which could be regarded as submitting to Russian “jurisdiction,” nor allow any activities carried out under the presumption that Russia has “jurisdiction” in the Northern Territories. Japan is of the policy to take appropriate steps to ensure that this does not happen. .

Original text (Japanese)

日本の基本的立場

⑴北方領土は、ロシアによる不法占拠が続いていますが、日本固有の領土であり、この点については例えば米国政府も一貫して日本の立場を支持しています。政府は、北方四島の帰属の問題を解決して平和条約を締結するという基本的方針に基づいて、ロシア政府との間で強い意思をもって交渉を行っています。

⑵ 北方 領土 問題 の 解決 に 当たって 我 が 国 として は 、 1） 北方 領土 の 日本 へ 帰属 が 確認 さ れる のであれ 、 実際 の の 時期 態様 について は 、 柔軟 に 対応 する 2） 領土 領土 現在 現在 に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に に & 居住 し て いる ロシア 人 について は 、 その 人 、 利益 及び 希望 は 、 北方 領土 後 も 十分 尊重 し いく こと と て い ます。。。 ます ます ます ます ます ます ます ます ます

⑶ 我 が 国固 有 の 領土 である 領土 に対する ロシア による 不法 占拠 が 続い て いる の 中 で 、 第 三 国 民間 民間 が 当該 で 活動 を 行う こと を 含め 、 北方 " 」に 服し た か の ごとき 行為 行う こと 、 または 、 あたかも 北方 領土 に対する ロシア「 管轄 権 」を 前提 し た か の ごとき を こと 等 は 、 領土 領土 に対する 我が" 容認できません。 　したがって、日本国政府は、広く日本国民に対して、1989年（平成元年）の閣議了解で、北方領土問題の解決までの間、ロシアの不法占拠の下で北方領土に入域 することを行わないよう要請しています。

⑷また、政府は、第三国国民がロシアの査証を取得した上で北方四島へ入域する、または第三国企業が北方領土において経済活動を行っているという情報に接した場合、従来から、しかるべく事実関係を確認の上、申入れを行ってきています 。

Other opinions

Defense aspect and danger of armed conflict

In connection with the territorial dispute over the ownership of the southern Kuriles, there is a danger of a military conflict with Japan. Currently, the Kuriles are defended by the 18th machine gun and artillery division (the only one in Russia), and Sakhalin is protected by a motorized rifle brigade. These formations are armed with 41 T-80 tanks, 120 MT-LB transporters, 20 coastal anti-ship missile systems, 130 artillery systems, 60 anti-aircraft weapons (Buk, Tunguska, Shilka complexes), 6 Mi-8 helicopters.

As written in the Law of the Sea:

The state has the right to temporarily suspend peaceful passage through certain sections of its territorial waters, if this is urgently required by the interests of its security.

However, the restriction of Russian shipping - except for warships in conflict - in these straits, and even more so the introduction of fees, would be contrary to some provisions of the generally recognized in international law (including that recognized in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Japan signed and ratified) the right of innocent passage. especially since Japan does not have archipelagic waters [ ] :

If a foreign merchant ship complies with the above requirements, the coastal state must not impede innocent passage through territorial waters and is obliged to take all necessary measures for the safe implementation of innocent passage - to announce, in particular, for general information about all dangers to navigation known to it. Foreign ships should not be subject to any fees for passage, with the exception of fees and charges for services actually rendered, which should be collected without any discrimination.

Further, almost the rest of the water area of ​​the Sea of ​​Okhotsk freezes and the ports of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk freeze, and, consequently, navigation without icebreakers is still impossible here; the Laperouse Strait, which connects the Sea of ​​Okhotsk with the Sea of ​​Japan, is also clogged with ice in winter and is navigable only with the help of icebreakers:

The Sea of ​​Okhotsk has the most severe ice regime. Ice here appears at the end of October and lasts until July. In winter, the entire northern part of the sea is covered with thick floating ice, sometimes freezing into a vast area of ​​immovable ice. The boundary of the fixed fast ice extends into the sea for 40-60 miles. A constant current carries ice from the western regions to the southern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. As a result, an accumulation of floating ice forms near the southern islands of the Kuril ridge in winter, and the La Perouse Strait is clogged with ice and navigable only with the help of icebreakers. .

At the same time, the shortest route from Vladivostok to the Pacific Ocean lies through the ice-free Sangara Strait between the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. This strait is not blocked by the territorial waters of Japan, although it can be included in the territorial waters unilaterally at any time.

Natural resources

There are zones of possible oil and gas accumulation on the islands. The reserves are estimated at 364 million tons of oil equivalent. In addition, gold is possible on the islands. In June 2011, it became known that Russia was proposing to Japan to jointly develop oil and gas fields located in the area of ​​the Kuril Islands.

A 200-mile fishing zone adjoins the islands. Thanks to the South Kuril Islands, this zone covers the entire water area of ​​the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, with the exception of a small coastal water area near about. Hokkaido. Thus, in economic terms, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk is actually an inland sea of ​​Russia with an annual fish catch of about three million tons.

Positions of third countries and organizations

As of 2014, the United States considers Japan to have sovereignty over the disputed islands, while noting that Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty (that an attack on either side in Japanese-administered territory is considered a threat to both sides) does not apply to these islands, as not controlled by Japan. The position of the Bush Jr. administration was similar. Whether the U.S. position was previously different is disputed in the academic literature. It is believed that in the 1950s the sovereignty of the islands was linked to the sovereignty of the Ryukyu Islands, which had a similar legal status. In 2011, the press service of the US Embassy in the Russian Federation noted that this US position has existed for a long time and certain politicians only confirm it.

see also

• Liancourt (islands disputed between Japan and South Korea)
• Senkaku (islands disputed between Japan and China)