Which islands belong to the Kuril. Why the Kuril Islands are so important for Russia

The islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge are several islands separated from the Greater Kuril ridge South Kuril Strait.

total area- 360.85 sq. km. In addition to six large ones (Shikotan - 264 sq. km and five smaller ones), it includes a number of small, nameless islands. Belonging to the entire ridge of Russia (they are part of Sakhalin region) is disputed by Japan, which includes them in the Nemuro District of Hokkaido Governorate.

Back in 2012, the authorities of the Sakhalin region supported the initiative of the local branch of the Russian geographical society and sent an expedition to describe and "planned naming" of the small islands of the region. noted that geographers have many chances to find new islands rising above the sea due to volcanic activity.

In September 2012, the expedition visited three nameless islands(near Shikotan), which had numbers 8, 11 and 15 according to the Rosreestr list.

Even before going out to the open sea, the Russian Geographical Society decided what to name these geographical objects.

The first island was named after Sergei Kapitsa (1928-2012), a Russian physicist, son of Nobel laureate Pyotr Kapitsa. However, Kapitsa Jr. is better known not for his scientific and teaching activities, but for his active popularization of science. From 1973 until his death in August 2012, he was the permanent host of Obvious - Incredible, a TV show about science and technology.

The second island was named after Igor Fakhrutdinov, the governor of the Sakhalin region in 1996-2003. On August 20, 2003, a Mi-8 helicopter crashed in Kamchatka. All 17 passengers were killed, including the governor, his assistant Yuri Shuvalov, the head of the press center of the Sakhalin administration, Dmitry Donskoy, and three crew members.

Finally, island No. 15 was named after Alexei Gnechko (1900-1980), a Red Army commander who led the Kuril landing operation in 1945. Gnechko met World War II with the rank of division commander, commanded the defense of Kamchatka, and at the beginning of the Soviet offensive against the Japanese, it was his troops who took the island of Shumshu. It was one of the bloodiest operations of the Soviet-Japanese war (and the only one where losses among Soviet soldiers and sailors exceeded the losses of the enemy), but after its successful completion, almost all Japanese garrisons in the Kuriles capitulated.

In October-November of the same 2012, the second expedition took place, with the same purpose of naming.

The area of ​​the marine expedition extended from the Bussol Strait to Shikotan Island on the Lesser Kuril Ridge, with the work of a hydrographic vessel on the Urup, Iturup, Shikotan Islands and the Lovtsova Peninsula of Kunashir Island. Then the scientists observed the Taira group (islands No. 18-21, in the northern tip of Urup Island). They failed to land because of the large swell.

But this did not stop them from proposing to name the islands in honor of Captain Anna Shchetinina, USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko and the Chavycha steamer. Anna Ivanovna Shchetinina (1908-1999) - the world's first female captain long-distance navigation, at the age of 27 she gained world fame for escorting the Chinook steamer along the Northern sea ​​route from Odessa to Kamchatka in 58 days. Since the autumn of 1941, she made 17 flights with military cargo to Vladivostok from the USA.

Gromyko is directly related to history Kuril Islands.

He was part of a group of people who prepared the Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July 1945) conferences, during which decisions were made on the return of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to the USSR. Gromyko headed the USSR delegation at the negotiations on the formation of the UN.

The last of the islands mentioned in today's decree was surveyed by members of the Russian Geographical Society in 2014. It is located near Cape Sad (the northeastern tip of Anuchin Island), the Small Kuril Ridge). The area is about 200 sq. m. Expedition member Sergei Ponomarev suggested naming it after Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko (1904-1954). After successful operations in the fight against Nazi Germany, the command sent Derevyanko as a representative of the High Command of the Soviet Forces in the Far East at the headquarters of General MacArthur. It was he who signed the act of surrender of Japan on behalf of the USSR. He died, by the way, because of the radiation he received while visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It is curious that all these nameless objects got their name in the resolution of the Sakhalin Regional Duma on June 11, 2015. However, the Prime Minister approved them only now - and only for five of the fifteen objects.

controversy about four South Kuril Islands currently owned Russian Federation, have been going on for quite some time. This land as a result of signed in different time agreements and wars changed hands several times. Currently, these islands are the cause of the unresolved territorial dispute between Russia and Japan.

Discovery of the islands

The issue of opening the Kuril Islands is controversial. According to the Japanese side, the Japanese were the first to set foot on the land of the islands in 1644. The map of that time with the designations applied to it - “Kunashiri”, “Etorofu”, etc. is carefully preserved in National Museum Japanese . And the Russian pioneers, according to the Japanese, first came to the Kuril ridge only during the time of Tsar Peter I, in 1711, and on the Russian map of 1721 these islands are called "Japanese Islands".

But in reality, the situation is different: firstly, the Japanese received the first information about the Kuriles (from the Ainu language - “kuru” means “a person who came from nowhere”) from local residents Ainu (the oldest non-Japanese population of the Kuriles and the Japanese Islands) during an expedition to Hokkaido in 1635. Moreover, up to the Kuril lands themselves, the Japanese, due to constant conflicts with local population didn't get there.

It should be noted that the Ainu were hostile to the Japanese, and the Russians were initially treated well, considering them to be their "brothers", because of the similarity in appearance and methods of communication between Russians and small nations.

Secondly, the Kuril Islands were discovered by the Dutch expedition of Maarten Gerritsen de Vries (Vries) in 1643, the Dutch were looking for the so-called. "Golden Lands" The Dutch did not like the land, and they sold a detailed description of them, a map to the Japanese. It was on the basis of Dutch data that the Japanese compiled their maps.

Thirdly, the Japanese at that time did not own not only the Kuriles, but even Hokkaido, only in its southern part there was their stronghold. The Japanese began to conquer the island at the beginning of the 17th century, and the struggle against the Ainu went on for two centuries. That is, if the Russians were interested in expansion, then Hokkaido could become a Russian island. This was facilitated by the good attitude of the Ainu towards the Russians and their enmity towards the Japanese. There are records of this fact. The Japanese state of that time did not officially consider itself the sovereign of not only Sakhalin and the Kuril lands, but also Hokkaido (Matsumae) - this was confirmed in his circular by the head of the Japanese government, Matsudaira, during the Russian-Japanese negotiations on the border and trade in 1772.

Fourthly, Russian explorers visited the islands before the Japanese. In the Russian state, the first mention of Kuril lands refers to 1646, when Nehoroshko Ivanovich Kolobov gave a report to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich about the campaigns of Ivan Yuryevich Moskvitin and spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the Kuriles. In addition, Dutch, Scandinavian and German medieval chronicles and maps report the first Russian settlements in the Kuriles of that time. The first reports about the Kuril lands and their inhabitants reached the Russians in the middle of the 17th century.

In 1697, during the expedition of Vladimir Atlasov to Kamchatka, new information about the islands appeared, the Russians explored the islands up to Simushir (the island middle group Great Ridge of the Kuril Islands).

18th century

Peter I knew about the Kuril Islands, in 1719 the tsar sent to Kamchatka secret expedition under the leadership of Ivan Mikhailovich Evreinov and Fedor Fedorovich Luzhin. The marine surveyor Evreinov and the surveyor-cartographer Luzhin had to determine whether there was a strait between Asia and America. The expedition reached the island of Simushir in the south and brought local residents and rulers to the Russian state.

In 1738-1739, the navigator Martyn Petrovich Shpanberg (a Dane by origin) traveled along the entire Kuril ridge, mapped all the islands he encountered, including the entire Lesser Kuril ridge (these are 6 large and a number of small islands that are separated from the Greater Kuril ridge by the South - Kuril Strait). He explored the lands up to Hokkaido (Matsumaya), bringing the local Ainu rulers to the Russian state.

In the future, the Russians avoided sailing to the southern islands, mastered northern territories. Unfortunately, at that time, abuses against the Ainu were noted not only by the Japanese, but also by the Russians.

In 1771, the Lesser Kuril Ridge was withdrawn from Russia and passed under the protectorate of Japan. The Russian authorities, in order to rectify the situation, sent the nobleman Antipin with the translator Shabalin. They were able to persuade the Ainu to restore Russian citizenship. In 1778-1779, Russian envoys brought over 1.5 thousand people from Iturup, Kunashir and even Hokkaido into citizenship. In 1779, Catherine II freed those who accepted Russian citizenship from all taxes.

In 1787, in the Extensive Land Description Russian state... "a list of the Kuril Islands was given up to Hokkaido-Matsumai, the status of which has not yet been determined. Although the Russians did not control the lands south of Urup Island, the Japanese operated there.

In 1799, by order of the sei-taishogun Tokugawa Ienari, he headed the Tokugawa Shogunate, two outposts were built on Kunashir and Iturup, and permanent garrisons were placed there. Thus, the Japanese secured the status of these territories within Japan by military means.

Agreements

In 1845, the Japanese Empire unilaterally announced its power over all of Sakhalin and the Kuril ridge. This naturally caused a violent negative reaction from the Russian Emperor Nicholas I. But, the Russian Empire did not have time to take action, the events of the Crimean War prevented it. Therefore, it was decided to make concessions and not bring the matter to war.

On February 7, 1855, the first diplomatic agreement between Russia and Japan was concluded - Shimoda Treaty. It was signed by Vice Admiral E. V. Putyatin and Toshiakira Kawaji. According to the 9th article of the treatise, "permanent peace and sincere friendship between Russia and Japan" was established. Japan moved the islands from Iturup and to the south, Sakhalin was declared a joint, indivisible possession. Russians in Japan received consular jurisdiction, Russian ships received the right to enter the ports of Shimoda, Hakodate, Nagasaki. The Russian Empire received the most favored nation treatment in trade with Japan and received the right to open consulates in ports open to Russians. That is, in general, especially given the difficult international situation of Russia, the treaty can be assessed positively. Since 1981, the Japanese have celebrated the signing of the Shimoda Treaty as the Day of the Northern Territories.

It should be noted that in fact the Japanese received the right to the "Northern Territories" only for "permanent peace and sincere friendship between Japan and Russia", the most favored nation treatment in trade relations. Their further actions de facto annulled this agreement.

Initially, the provision of the Shimoda Treaty on the joint ownership of Sakhalin Island was more beneficial for Russian Empire, which led the active colonization of this territory. The Japanese Empire did not good fleet, therefore, at that time did not have such an opportunity. But later, the Japanese began to intensively populate the territory of Sakhalin, and the question of its ownership began to become more and more controversial and acute. The contradictions between Russia and Japan were resolved by signing the St. Petersburg Treaty.

St. Petersburg Treaty. It was signed in the capital of the Russian Empire on April 25 (May 7), 1875. Under this agreement, the Empire of Japan transferred Sakhalin to Russia in full ownership, and in exchange received all the islands of the Kuril chain.

As a result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and Treaty of Portsmouth On August 23 (September 5), 1905, the Russian Empire, in accordance with the 9th article of the agreement, ceded to Japan the south of Sakhalin, south of 50 degrees north latitude. Article 12 contained an agreement to conclude a convention on fishing by the Japanese along the Russian shores of the Sea of ​​Japan, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Bering Sea.

After the death of the Russian Empire and the beginning of foreign intervention, the Japanese occupied Northern Sakhalin, participated in the occupation Far East. When the Bolshevik Party won the civil war, Japan did not want to recognize the USSR for a long time. Only after the Soviet authorities in 1924 annulled the status of the Japanese consulate in Vladivostok and in the same year the USSR recognized Great Britain, France and China, did the Japanese authorities decide to normalize relations with Moscow.

Beijing Treaty. On February 3, 1924, official negotiations between the USSR and Japan began in Beijing. Only on January 20, 1925, the Soviet-Japanese convention on the basic principles of relations between countries was signed. The Japanese undertook to withdraw their forces from the territory of Northern Sakhalin by May 15, 1925. The declaration of the government of the USSR, which was attached to the convention, emphasized that the Soviet government did not share with the former government of the Russian Empire political responsibility for the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty of 1905. In addition, the agreement of the parties was enshrined in the convention that all agreements, treaties and conventions concluded between Russia and Japan before November 7, 1917, except for the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, should be revised.

In general, the USSR made great concessions: in particular, Japanese citizens, companies and associations were granted the rights to exploit natural resources throughout the territory of the Soviet Union. On July 22, 1925, a contract was signed to provide the Empire of Japan with a coal concession, and on December 14, 1925, an oil concession in Northern Sakhalin. Moscow agreed to this agreement in order to stabilize the situation in the Russian Far East in this way, since the Japanese supported the Whites outside the USSR. But in the end, the Japanese began to systematically violate the convention, create conflict situations.

During the Soviet-Japanese negotiations that took place in the spring of 1941 regarding the conclusion of a neutrality treaty, the Soviet side The question of the liquidation of Japanese concessions in Northern Sakhalin was raised. The Japanese gave their written consent to this, but delayed the implementation of the agreement for 3 years. Only when the USSR began to gain the upper hand over the Third Reich did the Japanese government agree to the implementation of the agreement given earlier. So, on March 30, 1944, a protocol was signed in Moscow on the destruction of the Japanese oil and coal concessions in Northern Sakhalin and the transfer to the Soviet Union of all Japanese concession property.

February 11, 1945 at the Yalta conference three great powers Soviet Union, United States, Great Britain - reached an oral agreement on the entry of the USSR into the war with the Empire of Japan on the terms of the return of South Sakhalin and the Kuril ridge to it after the end of World War II.

In the Potsdam Declaration dated July 26, 1945, it was said that Japanese sovereignty would be limited only to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and other smaller islands, which the victorious countries would indicate. The Kuril Islands were not mentioned.

After the defeat of Japan, on January 29, 1946, by Memorandum No. 677 of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Powers, American General Douglas MacArthur of Japanese territory the Tisima Islands (Kuril Islands), the Khabomadze (Khabomai) Islands and Sikotan Island (Shikotan) were excluded.

According to San Francisco Peace Treaty dated September 8, 1951, the Japanese side waived all rights to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. But the Japanese argue that Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Habomai (the islands of the Lesser Kuril ridge) were not part of the Tisima Islands (Kuril Islands) and they did not refuse them.

Further agreements

joint declaration. On October 19, 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan adopted a Joint Declaration. The document ended the state of war between the countries and restored diplomatic relations, and also spoke of Moscow's consent to the transfer Japanese side islands of Habomai and Shikotan. But they were to be handed over only after the signing of the peace treaty. However, later Japan was forced to refuse to sign a peace treaty with the USSR. The United States threatened the Japanese not to give up Okinawa and the entire Ryukyu archipelago if they gave up their claims to the other islands of the Lesser Kuril chain.

After Tokyo signed the Cooperation and Security Treaty with Washington in January 1960, extending the American military presence for Japanese islands, Moscow stated that it refuses to consider the issue of transferring the islands to the Japanese side. The statement was substantiated by the security of the USSR and China.

In 1993 was signed Tokyo Declaration O Russian-Japanese relations. It said that the Russian Federation is the legal successor of the USSR and recognizes the 1956 agreement. Moscow expressed its readiness to start negotiations on Japan's territorial claims. In Tokyo, this was assessed as a sign of the coming victory.

In 2004, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov, made a statement that Moscow recognizes the 1956 Declaration and is ready to negotiate a peace treaty based on it. In 2004-2005, this position was confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But the Japanese insisted on the transfer of 4 islands, so the issue was not resolved. Moreover, the Japanese gradually increased their pressure, for example, in 2009, the head of the Japanese government at a government meeting called the Lesser Kuril Ridge "illegally occupied territories." In 2010-early 2011, the Japanese got so excited that some military experts began to talk about the possibility of a new Russo-Japanese war. Only a spring natural disaster - the consequences of a tsunami and a terrible earthquake, the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant - cooled the ardor of Japan.

As a result, the loud statements of the Japanese led to the fact that Moscow announced that the islands are the territory of the Russian Federation legally following the results of the Second World War, this is enshrined in the UN Charter. And the Russian sovereignty over the Kuriles, which has the appropriate international legal confirmation, is beyond doubt. Plans were also announced to develop the economy of the islands and strengthen the Russian military presence there.

The strategic importance of the islands

economic factor. The islands are economically underdeveloped, but they have deposits of valuable and rare earth metals - gold, silver, rhenium, titanium. The waters are rich in biological resources, the seas that wash the shores of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are one of the most productive areas of the World Ocean. Great importance They also have shelves where hydrocarbon deposits have been found.

political factor. The cession of the islands will sharply lower Russia's status in the world, and there will be a legal opportunity to review other results of the Second World War. For example, they may be required to give Kaliningrad region Germany or part of Karelia Finland.

military factor. Transfer of the islands South Kuril Ridge will provide the Naval Forces of Japan and the United States with free access to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. It will allow our potential adversaries to exercise control over strategically important strait zones, which will drastically impair the deployment of the forces of the Russian Pacific Fleet, including nuclear submarines with intercontinental ballistic missiles. It will with a strong blow on the military security of the Russian Federation.

The harsh reality of these places is such that it serves as a constant reminder to a person that the crown of the "king of nature" was assigned to them self-appointedly and completely undeservedly. Because here, in the face of nature, we sometimes find ourselves unarmed. Frequent earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions more than once led to the fact that people left their homes with no hope of restoring entire settlements. There are many such abandoned villages, urban-type settlements and military camps. And in this sense, Severo-Kurilsk was lucky, which, although it was completely destroyed by the wave of 1952, was then nevertheless rebuilt.

Severo-Kurilsk

Severo-Kurilsk is a city in the Sakhalin Region with a population of less than 2,500 people, located in the northeast of the Kuril island of Paramushir. Severo-Kurilsk stands at the foot of Mount Ebeko, just some 7 km away. from an active volcano. The city's economy is based on the extraction and processing of fish (navaga, flounder and pollock) and seafood, mainly crabs and squid. There is a fishing port.

Two dams with small power plants have been built on the river adjacent to the city. Searching for geo thermal springs. The city also has a small airport for helicopters. picturesque surroundings Severo-Kurilsk, the presence of mineral springs form the basis for recreation for residents and guests of the city.

Despite the fact that the city belongs to the Sakhalin region, passenger traffic carried out only with Kamchatka region, since the distance to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is 4 times less than to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. From the Kamchatka Peninsula, it can be reached by air in less than 2 hours. The sea route is 16-18 hours - at present, sea transportation from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is carried out by the Gipanis passenger ship.

The North Kuril region includes the following islands: Shumshu, Paramushir, Atlasov, Antsiferova, Makarushi, Onekotan, Kharimkotan, Shiashkotan, Ekarma, Chirikotan, Matua, Rasshua, Ushishir, Ketoi, as well as a number of small islands, such as the Avos rock and the Trap rocks .

Kurilsk

Kurilsk is a city in the Sakhalin Region, located on the Iturup Island of the Kuril Ridge. The population does not exceed 2000 people. Work in Kurilsk sea ​​port, a fish factory for the reproduction of pink salmon, a seismic station, a weather station, a tsunami warning station, there is even a local history museum with a collection of archaeological and ethnographic materials.

The municipality is located in the central part of the Kuril Islands and includes the islands: Iturup, Urup, Broughton, Black Brothers (Chirpoi, Brat-Chirpoev), Simushir and many small islands and rocks.

The structure of the Kuril urban district includes 7 villages: Kitovoye, Rybaki, Burevestnik, Gornoye, Goryachiye Klyuchi, Reidovo. These are small settlements, for example, only 20 people live in the village of Rybaki, there are not even 200 in Burevestnik, about 600 in Kitovoe, and about 1000 in Reidovo. In the rest, the population has crossed the 1000th threshold, since military units are located on the territory of these settlements .

Yuzhno-Kurilsk

Yuzhno-Kurilsk is an urban-type settlement located on the island of Kunashir, with a population of about 7,000 people. It was also repeatedly rebuilt after the destruction caused by natural disasters.

In Yuzhno-Kurilsk, as well as in other cities of the islands, there are several fishing enterprises.
OAO Kuril Mining and Geological Company, based in the village, is engaged in geological exploration and mining of precious metals at gold mining sites in the Sakhalin Region.

In addition, the Mendeleevskaya Geothermal Power Plant and a heat supply station are being built in the village, which will make it possible in the future to abandon expensive coal and diesel fuel deliveries and completely transfer Yuzhno-Kurilsk to geothermal heat supply.

16 km. from the village there is the Mendeleevo airport, where you can fly from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in less than two hours. Sea communication between Sakhalin and Yuzhno-Kurilsk is provided by motor ships Marina Tsvetaeva and Igor Farkhutdinov. In addition, from here you can get to Shikotan, where the Nadezhda and Druzhba ships go. And only cargo flights go to Vladivostok.

Not far from the village is hot beach”, where you can relax on thermal springs and these are far from the only natural attractions of the South Kuril urban district.

In addition, here you can visit the local history museum and the Neolithic site. ancient man, which is located on the left bank of the Alyokhina River.

On the question of Japan's claims to our Kuriles

Over and over again, Japanese politicians "put pressure on the pedal", initiating conversations with Moscow on the subject that, they say, "it's time to return the Northern Territories to the Japanese masters."

We didn't really react to Tokyo's hysteria before, but now it seems we need to respond.

To begin with, a picture with text, which better than any analytical articles represents Japan's real position at the time when she was winner Russia. Now they are whining panhandling, but as soon as they feel their strength, they immediately begin to play "king of the hill":

Japan took away a hundred years ago our Russian lands- half of Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands as a result of the defeat of Russia in the war of 1905. Since then, the famous song “On the Hills of Manchuria” has remained, which still in Russia reminds of the bitterness of that defeat.

However, times have changed, and Japan itself has become defeatist in World War II, which personally started against China, Korea and other Asian countries. And, overestimating its strength, Japan even attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 - after that, the United States entered the war against Japan and its ally Hitler. Yes Yes, Japan was an ally of Hitler but little is remembered about that today. Why? Who did not like History in the West?

As a result of its own military disaster, Japan signed in September 1945 the "Act on unconditional surrender"(!), where in text it is clearly stated that "We hereby pledge that the Japanese Government and its successors will faithfully fulfill the conditions" Potsdam Declaration". And in that Potsdam Declaration» clarified that « Japanese sovereignty will be limited to the islands Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and themes smaller islands that we will indicate". And where are the "northern territories" that the Japanese demand "back" from Moscow? In general, what kind of territorial claims against Russia can be discussed in Japan, which deliberately went to the aggression in alliance with Hitler?

- Taking a purely negative attitude towards any transfer of any islands to Japan, it should still be fair to explain: tactics recent years which is perfectly clear to professionals, lies in the following - not to deny outright what was promised by the previous authorities, to speak only about the fidelity of the 1956 Declaration, that is, only about Habomai and Shikotane, thus excluding from the problem Kunashir and Iturup that appeared under pressure from Japan in the negotiations in the mid-1990s, and, finally, to accompany the words about the "loyalty" of the Declaration with such wording that today does not strictly coincide with the position of Japan.

- The declaration assumed first the conclusion of a peace treaty and only then the "transfer" of the two islands. The transfer is an act of goodwill, a willingness to dispose of one's own territory "in meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests Japanese state". Japan, on the other hand, insists that the “return” precede the peace treaty, because the very concept of “return” is the recognition of the illegality of their belonging to the USSR, which is a revision not only of the results of the Second World War itself, but also of the principle of the inviolability of these results.

- Satisfaction of Japanese claims to "return" the islands would mean a direct undermining of the principle of indisputability of the results of World War II and would open up the possibility of questioning other aspects of the territorial status quo.

– The “complete and unconditional surrender” of Japan is fundamentally different from a simple surrender in legal, political and historical consequences. A simple "surrender" means an acknowledgment of defeat in hostilities and does not affect the international legal personality of the defeated power, no matter what losses it may suffer. Such a state retains its sovereignty and legal personality and itself, as a legal party, negotiates peace terms. “Complete and unconditional surrender” means the cessation of the existence of a subject of international relations, the dismantling of the former state as a political institution, the loss of sovereignty and all power powers that pass to the victorious powers, which themselves determine the conditions for peace and the post-war structure and settlement.

– In case of "total and unconditional surrender" with Japan, then Japan retained the former emperor, which is used to assert that Japan's legal personality was not interrupted. However, in reality, the source of the preservation of imperial power is different - it is the will and decision of the Winners.

- US Secretary of State J. Byrnes pointed out to V. Molotov: "Japan's position does not withstand criticism that it cannot consider itself bound by the Yalta agreements, since it was not a party to them." Today's Japan is a post-war state, and the settlement can proceed solely from the post-war international legal basis, especially since only this basis has legal force.

- In the "Soviet-Japanese Declaration of October 19, 1956", the readiness of the USSR was recorded to "transfer" to Japan the islands of Habomai and Shikotan, but only after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty. It's about not about "return", but about "transfer", that is, about the readiness to dispose of as act of good will its territory, which does not create a precedent for revising the results of the war.

- The United States exerted direct pressure on Japan during the Soviet-Japanese negotiations in 1956 and did not stop at ultimatum: The United States stated that if Japan signs a "Peace Treaty" with the USSR, in which it agrees to recognize South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands as part of the territory of the USSR, " The United States will keep the Ryukyu Islands in perpetuity."(Okinawa).

- The signing of the "Soviet-Japanese Declaration", according to the reckless plan of N. Khrushchev, was supposed to keep Japan from concluding a military cooperation treaty with the United States. However, such an agreement between Tokyo and Washington followed on January 19, 1960, and according to it perpetual stay of American armed forces on Japanese territory.

- On January 27, 1960, the Soviet government announced "a change in circumstances" and warned that "only subject to the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the territory of Japan and the signing of the Peace Treaty between the USSR and Japan, the islands of Habomai and Shikotan will be transferred to Japan".

These are the considerations about the Japanese "Wishlist".

Kuriles: not four bare islands

Recently, the "question" about the South Kuriles has been raised again. The media of disinformation are fulfilling the task of the current government - to inspire the people that we do not need these islands. The obvious is hushed up: after the transfer of the South Kuriles to Japan Russia will lose a third of the fish, our Pacific Fleet will be locked up and will not get free access to the Pacific Ocean, it will be necessary to revise the entire border system in the east of the country etc. As a geologist who has worked in the Far East, Sakhalin for 35 years and has been to the South Kuriles more than once, I am especially outraged by the lie about "four bare islands" supposedly representing the South Kuriles.

Let's start with the fact that the South Kuriles are not 4 islands. They include o. Kunashir, O. Iturup And all the islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge. The latter includes Fr. Shikotan(182 sq. km), about. Green(69 sq. km), about. Polonsky(15 sq. km), about. Tanfiliev(8 sq. km), about. Yuri(7 sq. km), about. Anuchin(3 sq. km) and many smaller islands: about. Demina, O. shards, O. watchdog, O. Signal and others. Yes, to the island Shikotan usually includes islands Grieg And Aivazovsky. The total area of ​​the islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge is about 300 sq. km, and all the islands of the South Kuriles - over 8500 sq. km. The fact that the Japanese, and after them "our" democrats and some diplomats call the island habo mai, is about 20 islands.

The bowels of the Southern Kuriles contain large complex mineral. Its leading elements are gold and silver, the deposits of which have been explored on about. Kunashir. Here, at the Prasolovsky deposit, in some areas the content gold reaches a kilogram or more, silver– up to 5 kg per ton of rock. The predicted resources of the North Kunashir ore cluster alone are 475 tons of gold and 2160 tons of silver (these and many other figures are taken from the book "The Mineral Resource Base of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands at the Turn of the Third Millennium" published last year by the Sakhalin Book Publishing House). But, apart from Fr. Kunashir, other islands of the South Kuriles are also promising for gold and silver.

In the same Kunashir, polymetallic ores are known (Valentinovskoye deposit), in which the content zinc reaches 14%, copper - up to 4%, gold– up to 2 g/t, silver– up to 200 g/t, barium– up to 30%, strontium- until 3 %. Stocks zinc are 18 thousand tons, copper- 5 thousand tons. On the islands of Kunashir and Iturup there are several ilmenite-magnetite placers with a high content of gland(up to 53%), titanium(up to 8%) and increased concentrations vanadium. Such raw materials are suitable for the production of high-grade vanadium iron. In the late 60s, Japan offered to buy Kuril ilmenite-magnetite sands. Is it because of the high content of vanadium? But in those years, not everything was sold and bought, there were values more expensive than money, and transactions were not always accelerated by bribes.

Of particular note are the recently discovered rich accumulations of ore in the South Kuriles. rhenium, which goes to the details of supersonic aircraft and missiles, protects the metal from corrosion and wear. These ores are modern ejecta from volcanoes. The ore continues to accumulate. It is estimated that only one Kudryavy volcano on about. Iturup takes out 2.3 tons of rhenium per year. In places, the content of this valuable metal in the ore reaches 200 g/t. Will we give it to the Japanese too?

From non-metallic minerals, we single out deposits sulfur. Now this raw material is one of the scarcest in our country. Deposits have long been known in the Kuriles volcanic sulfur. The Japanese developed it in many places. Soviet geologists explored and prepared for development a large sulfur deposit Novoye. Only on one of its sites - Western - industrial reserves of sulfur are more than 5 million tons. On the islands of Iturup and Kunashir there are many smaller deposits that can attract entrepreneurs. In addition, some geologists consider the region of the Lesser Kuril Ridge to be promising for oil and gas.

In the South Kuriles there are very scarce in the country and very valuable thermal mineral waters. The most famous of them are the "Hot Beach" springs, in which waters with a high content of silicic and boric acids have a temperature of up to 100 ° C. There is a balneary. Similar waters - in the North Mendeleevsky and Chaikinsky sources on about. Kunashir, as well as in a number of places on about. Iturup.

Who hasn't heard of thermal waters Southern Kuriles? In addition to being a tourism destination, this thermal power raw materials, the importance of which has recently increased due to the ongoing energy crisis in the Far East and the Kuril Islands. So far, a geothermal hydroelectric power station using underground heat is operating only in Kamchatka. But it is possible and necessary to develop high-potential coolants - volcanoes and their derivatives - on the Kuril Islands. To date, on about. Kunashir has explored the Hot Beach steam-hydrotherm deposit, which can provide the city of Yuzhno-Kurilsk with heat and hot water (partially, the steam-water mixture is used to heat the military unit and state farm greenhouses). On about. Iturup explored a similar field - Ocean.

It is also important that the South Kuriles are a unique testing ground for studying geological processes, volcanism, ore formation, giant waves(tsunami), seismicity. There is no second such scientific testing ground in Russia. And science, as you know, is a productive force, the fundamental basis for the development of any society.

And how can you call the South Kuriles "bare islands" if they are covered with almost subtropical vegetation, where there are a lot of medicinal herbs and berries (aralia, lemongrass, redberry), the rivers are rich red fish(chum salmon, pink salmon, sima), fur seals, sea lions, seals, sea otters live on the coast, shallow water is dotted with crabs, shrimps, trepangs, scallops?

Isn't all of the above known in the government, in the embassy of the Russian Federation in Japan, "our" democrats? I think that the arguments about the possibility of transferring the South Kuriles to Japan - not from stupidity, but from meanness. Some figures like Zhirinovsky offer to sell our islands to Japan and name specific amounts. Russia sold Alaska on the cheap, also considering the peninsula "unnecessary land." And now the US gets a third of its oil from Alaska, more than half of its gold, and much more. So still sell cheap, gentlemen!

How Russia and Japan will divide the Kuriles. We answer eight naive questions about the disputed islands

Moscow and Tokyo, possibly as close as ever to solving the problem of the South Kuril Islands - this is the opinion of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. For his part, Vladimir Putin explained that Russia was ready to discuss this issue only on the basis of the Soviet-Japanese declaration of 1956 - according to it, the USSR agreed to transfer to Japan only two the smallest South Kuril Islands - Shikotan and coming habomai. But left behind large and inhabited islands Iturup And Kunashir.

Whether Russia will agree to a treaty and where the “Kuril issue” came from in general, Komsomolskaya Pravda was helped to figure it out by a senior researcher at the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Kuzminkov.

1. Why do the Japanese claim the Kuriles at all? After all, they abandoned them after the Second World War?

- Indeed, in 1951, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was concluded, where it was stated that Japan refuses from all claims to the Kuril Islands, - agrees Kuzminkov. - But a few years later, in order to get around this moment, the Japanese began to call four islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai - northern territories and deny that they belong to the Kuril ridge (but, on the contrary, belong to the island of Hokkaido). Although the pre-war Japanese maps they were designated precisely as the Southern Kuriles.

2. Still, how much disputed islands- two or four?

- Now Japan claims all four of the above islands - in 1855, the border between Russia and Japan passed through them. But immediately after the Second World War - both in San Francisco in 1951 and in 1956 at the signing of the Soviet-Japanese declaration - Japan disputed only Shikotan and Habomai. At that time, Iturup and Kunashir they recognized Southern Kuriles. It is about returning to the positions of the 1956 declaration that Putin and Abe are now talking about.

“Joint management in the Kuriles was discussed, but I believe that this is a stillborn project,” the expert commented. - Japan will demand such preferences for itself that will cast doubt on Russia's sovereignty in these territories.

Similarly, the Japanese are not ready to agree to the lease of the islands from Russia (such an idea was also voiced) - they consider the northern territories to be their ancestral land.

In my opinion, the only real option for today is the signing of a peace treaty, which means little to both countries. And the subsequent creation of a commission on the delimitation of borders, which will sit for at least 100 years, but will not come to any decision.

HELP "KP"

The total population of the South Kuril Islands is about 17 thousand people.

Island group habomai(more than 10 islands) - uninhabited.

On the island Shikotan– 2 settlements: Malokurilskoye and Krabozavodskoye. There is a cannery. In the Soviet years, it was one of the largest in the USSR. But now little is left of its former power.

On the island Iturup- the city of Kurilsk (1600 people) and 7 settlements. In 2014, they opened international Airport"Iturup".

On the island Kunashir- Yuzhno-Kurilsk settlement (7700 people) and 6 smaller settlements. Here - geothermal power plant and more than a hundred military installations.

Pavel Shipilin. Kuril Islands - Japanese national idea

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Good day, dear viewers! Today, after a short pause for the next collection of information, I want to send you on a mini-trip to the Kuriles)
I picked up the musical composition according to my own taste, if you don’t like it - as usual, stop in the player)

I wish you all a pleasant experience!
Let's go)

Another Series" Unknown Russia"is dedicated to the Kuriles, or the Kuril Islands - a stumbling block in Russian-Japanese relations.

The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido, separating the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from Pacific Ocean. The length of the arc is about 1200 km. The archipelago includes 30 large and many small islands. The Kuril Islands are part of the Sakhalin Region.

The four southern islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai - are disputed by Japan, which on its maps includes them as part of Hokkaido Prefecture and considers them "temporarily occupied."

There are 68 volcanoes on the Kuril Islands, 36 of which are active.

There is a permanent population only in Paramushir, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan.

Before the arrival of the Russians and the Japanese, the islands were inhabited by the Ainu. In their language, "kuru" meant "a person who came from nowhere." The word “kuru” turned out to be consonant with our “smoke” - after all, there is always smoke over volcanoes

In Russia, the first mention of the Kuril Islands dates back to 1646, when the traveler N.I. Kolobov spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the islands. The first Russian settlements of that time are evidenced by Dutch, German and Scandinavian medieval chronicles and maps.

The Japanese first received information about the islands during an expedition to Hokkaido in 1635. It is not known whether she actually got to the Kuriles or learned about them indirectly from local residents, but in 1644 the Japanese compiled a map on which the Kurils were designated under the collective name "thousand islands".

Throughout the 18th century, the Russians intensively mastered the Kuriles. In 1779, Catherine II, by her decree, freed all the islanders who accepted Russian citizenship from all taxes.

In 1875, Russia and Japan agreed that the Kuriles belong to Japan, and Sakhalin to Russia, but after the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, Russia transferred to Japan southern part Sakhalin.

In February 1945, the Soviet Union promised the United States and Great Britain to start a war with Japan on the condition that the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands be returned to it. Japan, as you know, was defeated, the islands were returned to the USSR.

On September 8, 1951, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, according to which it renounced "all rights, titles and claims to the Kuril Islands and to that part of Sakhalin Island and the islands adjacent to it, sovereignty over which Japan acquired under the Portsmouth Treaty of September 5, 1905 of the year". However, in view of many other serious shortcomings of the San Francisco Treaty, representatives of the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia and a number of other countries refused to sign it. This now gives Japan the formal right to assert its belated claim to the islands.

As you can see, there is no way to sort out the question of who should own the Kuril Islands. As long as they belong to us. In international law, they refer to the so-called "disputed territories".

Iturup

The largest island in the archipelago. It is located in its southern part. The population is about 6 thousand people. On Iturup is main city archipelago - Kurilsk. There are 9 active volcanoes on Iturup.

Kunashir Island

Most south island Kuril ridge. The population is about 8 thousand people. Administrative center- the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk. In Yuzhno-Kurilsk there is a monument-obelisk in honor of the liberation of the island, on which it is written: “Soviet troops landed in this area in September 1945. Historical justice was restored: the original Russian lands - the Kuril Islands - were liberated from the Japanese militarists and forever reunited with the Motherland - Russia.

On the island - 4 active volcano and many thermal springs, which are places of relaxation. It is separated from Japan by only a 25-kilometer strait. The main attraction is Cape Stolbchaty, a fifty-meter rock, built of almost regular hexagons, tightly adjacent to each other in the form of rods.

(pink salmon spawning)

Shumshu Island

The northernmost of the Kuril Islands, during the Second World War was a powerful military fortress Japanese. A 20,000-strong garrison with tanks, pillboxes and airfields was based on it. The capture of Shumshu by Soviet troops was a decisive event in the course of the entire Kuril operation. Now there are remnants of Japanese technology lying around everywhere. Very picturesque.

That, in fact, is all for today!)
Thank you all for another portion of attention and interest in your country)
World!