MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the far-eastern Kuril islands for the first time on Thursday (Jun 13), prompting a "strong" protest by Japan which also claims the territory.Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by tensions over the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.The Kremlin posted a video of Putin in the Kuril Islands, with Russian media saying he visited a fish-processing plant where he was given caviar.Putin travelled to the Kurils after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin, where Russia's navy was conducting drills.
In Sakhalin, Putin held a meeting "on ensuring the security of Russia's eastern borders", RIA Novosti said.Japan, whose ties with Russia have worsened further since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 - just as Moscow's relations with China and North Korea have warmed - objected strongly."The Northern Territories ... are an inherent part of Japan's territory both historically and under international law, and the government of Japan strongly protests this visit," Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said in a statement.The Soviet Union took the strategically located volcanic archipelago north of Hokkaido in the final days of World War II, and has maintained a military presence there ever since.In 2010 then president Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the disputed territory. Medvedev also went there several times subsequently as prime minister.
