Overview
- President Vladimir Putin visited the Kuril island of Iturup on Thursday, Aug. 13, and Kremlin footage shows him touring a fish-processing plant, visiting a school, and speaking with residents.
- The visit came after a stop in Sakhalin where Russia held naval drills and Putin led a meeting on eastern border security, underscoring a security-focused sequence of visits.
- Tokyo issued a decisive protest, with Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi saying the islands are inherently Japanese territory under historical and international law.
- The four southern Kurils at the center of the dispute host about 20,000 Russian residents, rich fishing grounds and mineral deposits, and have been under Moscow's control since Soviet forces took them in 1945.
- The trip reinforces a long-standing stalemate: decades of on-and-off talks over a postwar peace treaty have failed to resolve sovereignty, and there is no sign of renewed negotiations after this visit.