Putin Visits Japan-Claimed Island; Tokyo Protests
Putin Visits Japan-Claimed Island; Tokyo Protests
The News
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup — a Japan-claimed island in the Kuril chain near Hokkaido — his first trip to territory disputed with Japan, the Kremlin said Thursday, drawing an immediate protest from Japan's foreign minister.
The island, known in Japan as Etorofu, sits off the east coast of Hokkaido and is part of a group occupied by the former Soviet Union and claimed by Tokyo ever since, the Japan Times reported.
Russian media said Putin sampled fish roe during the visit, according to Reuters.
Timeline
Russian media report Putin's visit to Iturup, at the end of the Kuril chain near Hokkaido, Reuters and Yahoo News reported.
The Kremlin confirms the trip — Putin's first to territory disputed with Japan — and Japan's foreign minister lodges a protest, Bloomberg reported.
Reactions
Japan's foreign minister protested the visit, according to Bloomberg and Yahoo News. Tokyo's long-standing position is that the islands off Hokkaido were occupied by the former Soviet Union and belong to Japan.
The Kremlin confirmed the visit itself, presenting it as a working trip to Russian territory. Russian state media coverage focused on Putin touring the island, including sampling local fish roe.
What's Next
Watch for a formal diplomatic protest through Japan's embassy in Moscow and any Russian response. The dispute has blocked a World War II-era peace treaty between the two countries for decades, and a presidential visit to the islands is the kind of gesture Tokyo treats as a hardening of Russia's claim.
More
Why it matters to Americans: Japan is a treaty ally and the anchor of US military power in the Pacific. Any fresh friction between Tokyo and Moscow pulls Washington closer to a second front of great-power tension, alongside the war in Ukraine and China's pressure in the East China Sea.
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