Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Etorofu Island on August 13, marking the first time a Russian head of state has set foot on the Northern Territories, Japan’s inherent territory, since then-President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Kunashiri Island 16 years ago.
The Northern Territories are Japan’s inherent territory. Putin’s visit to islands illegally occupied from Japan cannot be accepted, and this outrage deserves the strongest possible condemnation.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated that she “strongly protests the visit,” calling the Northern Territories “Japan’s inherent territory, both historically and under international law,” and adding that the move “wounds the feelings of the Japanese people” and is “absolutely unacceptable.”
Putin’s Version of History Doesn’t Hold Up
Speaking at a Russian Pacific Fleet military exercise in Sakhalin on August 12, Putin claimed the Northern Territories became Russian territory as a result of World War II. He criticized Japan for sanctioning Russia “using events in Ukraine as a pretext, without deeply examining the causes of the conflict.” Japan, in step with the United States and Europe, has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, including asset freezes, export controls, and trade restrictions targeting key sectors of the Russian economy.
These claims collapse under scrutiny. The Soviet Union invaded by breaking the Japan-Soviet Neutrality Pact, and continued its attacks even after Japan accepted the 1945 Potsdam Declaration and the Imperial Rescript ending the war was issued.
It went on to occupy four islands that had never once belonged to Russia or the Soviet Union.
The Potsdam Declaration, which the Soviet Union joined upon entering the war against Japan, explicitly carried forward the Cairo Declaration’s principle of no territorial expansion through war—a principle the Soviet Union violated outright. Therefore, Russia, as the successor state to the Soviet Union, has no legitimate claim to remain.
For Former Residents, the Visit Cuts Deep
The visit lands as former island residents, many now elderly, are still barred from visiting family graves on the islands—a practice suspended after Russia reacted to Japan’s sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
Yasuko Kodama, 81, head of the Kanto chapter of the Chishima-Habomai Island Residents’ League, said the news left her stunned: “So he actually went through with it. I don’t know what to say.”
Koichi Shimizu, 70, deputy director of the National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty in Nemuro, was more pointed: “It’s outrageous. This was a time we wanted to spend quietly, and instead we’ve been hit with a disturbance we simply can’t forgive.”
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The Northern Territories, Four Islands Frozen in Time
(Read a related article in Japanese.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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