Vladimir Putin walked onto Iturup Island on August 13, his first-ever visit to one of the disputed Kuril Islands. He met the regional governor and toured a fish-processing plant, a hospital and a school, according to Al Jazeera [1]. The island, which Japan calls Etorofu, is the largest of the four southernmost Kurils that Tokyo claims.
Japan's response came the same day. Its Foreign Minister summoned the Russian ambassador to strongly protest the visit [1]. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called it "absolutely unacceptable" and said it "offends the sentiments of the Japanese people" [1]. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi restated the underlying claim, saying the islands "are an inherent part of Japan's territory both historically and under international law" [1].
The dispute is a leftover of the Second World War. The four islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, "were seized by the Soviet Union during the second world war and have remained a source of friction between Moscow and Tokyo" [1]. About 17,000 Japanese residents were deported after the 1945 occupation. Roughly 20,000 Russian citizens live on the islands today, near mineral deposits and fishing grounds [1].
That backdrop is what gives an itinerary of a fish plant and a schoolhouse its weight. A president does not tour civic infrastructure on contested ground to leave the question open. The visit reads as an assertion that the islands are ordinary Russian territory, governed and inhabited, not a chip to be traded in a peace deal that has never been signed. Tokyo's summons registers the objection; it does not change who is standing on Iturup.
