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© KYODOPutin says he will visit disputed islands off Hokkaido
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70 Comments
Fighto!
I guess Putin can inspect the pollution and damage inflicted by Russia over the decades of their illegal occupation of these Japanese islands.
Great way for fascist Russia to antagonize her neighbor even more - as if her warmongering wasn't enough.
ClippetyClop
Nobody will come, Vlad. Nobody wants a Soviet vacation.
JJE
He is conducting a tour of the Russian Far East at the moment. First on the itinerary was to visit Chukotka region and around Anadyr.
There is no "pollution and damage" in the Kuril Islands. It has an abundance of marine life precisely because Japanese-style mass overfishing has never occurred there (not to mention mass industrialization). The local national park rangers joke the huge amount of dolphins, seals etc that take refuge there are escaping certain death elsewhere.
If anything, the environment is the most pristine in that part of the world - an incredible nature and environment reserve - thanks to Russia.
Tokyo needs to learn to accept the outcome of the Second World War.
Villanova
The should call it "Northern Japan" and build the Japanese version of Disneyland there. And every Obon the Russians can all go to the Japanese Disneyland to take photos of Russians in Japanese costumes.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Yes, no instigation when Russia does it.
TaiwanIsNotChina
I'm glad you think Japan has done its part sanctioning Russia.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Russia needs to learn that not everybody is as subservient to a dear leader as they are and accept whatever happens to them in life.
Paul
He's body-double's body-double might come.
DDK
Good. Arrest and deport to The Hague.
rainyday
Gotta suck when the only part of Japan you are allowed to visit is the run-down, impoverished little islands that Russia controls.
PTownsend
@jje: Tokyo needs to learn to accept the outcome of the Second World War.
Putin the Kremlin, along with the CCP and their online bots are the ones that need to accept the outcome of the Second World War, and accept that western democracy came out much better than Stalin-Mao style totalitarianism. And that most of the world that have been spared Soviet, or Chinese style totalitarianism are content living in western style democracies, while preferring that totalitarian regimes remain within their own sovereign boundaries, and stop messing in any way outside them. Russia, China and others within their bloc, you need to attend to the many problems within your own borders and stop trying to make things worse for others elsewhere. Leave sovereign states alone; authoritarians heal yourselves.
njca4
This is not meant to be a pro Russia statement, but Japan should just accept that these are islands are lost for good.
Russia doesn't give anything back, it just takes.
Sven Asai
A rare chance to get both, the islands and him without bigger troubles. He can't strike in that visiting timeframe because the return strikes would kill him, and while he isn't the suicidal self-sacrificing type, he has only the option to hand the islands and himself over peacefully.
yamada1043
Josep Stalin would be very proud of Vladimir Putin.
Redemption
Disputin Islands?
Brian Applegate
Russia doesn't give anything back, it just takes.
Tell that to a couple hundred million people living in democratic eastern Europe.
GuruMick
The article does say Japan relinquished clams in a 1952 agreement .
Seems a little late to be reclaiming the islands.
Ask the people living there maybe ?
PeaceIsReal
RedemptionToday 09:10 am JST
Disputin Islands?
Awesome comment!
a short poem, by RedemptionToday.
i thank you, my friend
isabelle
Sorry Vlad, but this will achieve nothing.
Perhaps you just want to look like a "strongman" ahead of your sham elections? Maybe you can spend your vacation there riding a horse bare-chested and driving a big truck, whilst the Russian people contend with a collapsing economy, global isolation, and death and destruction in your war of vanity?
The people of Eastern Europe took their countries back for themselves, through decades of struggle. Russia/the Soviet Union didn't "give" them anything: Russia wanted to hold onto them, and still wants to steal them back even now.
JJE
Moscow has declared the matter closed. There is no dispute from their point of view.
And yes, Mick, Tokyo signed away any claim to those islands in the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, as the article makes clear. They put their signature down. But that was largely a formality...
Because they lost those islands as a result of joining Hitler and Mussolini in the Axis Alliance in the Second World War, with the Kwantung Army fighting on past the official surrender date.
Hard to blame anyone but yourself in those circumstances.
HopeSpringsEternal
Putin's enjoying some travel while campaigning for the upcoming March election. He looks happy and healthy. In power since late 1999 and just now visiting places in Russia for the first time, that's a big country!
Clearly enjoying new multi-polar world he's been busy helping to create with BRICS. Nearly every global south country's EAGER to join; especially Muslim dominated but don't forget others in Africa and South America!
isabelle
You mean, apart from the many countries that have expressed no interest whatsoever, and Argentina, which has just pulled out?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67842992
None of those countries look very "EAGER" to me.
HopeSpringsEternal
Would only add Putin's Russia, he's a serious nature lover and protector of the environment, though you'll read about that in western media.
His security detail highly aware of his passion for hiking, Putin's playing the long game, health is #1, both personal and environmental.
Great if world had more such leaders so committed to protecting Mother Nature rather than just lousy $buck.
nandakandamanda
Many of the readers have misread the article.
Japan relinquished claim to the 'northern Kuriles' in 1951, not to the 'Northern Territories' which are the southern Kuriles, the four islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and Habomai, which Russia took after the war had ended.
HopeSpringsEternal
Dozens of major countries are now pursuing entry into BRICS, many have applied and told to reapply in the future. Actually, too much demand to join BRICS.
Putin and other BRICS leaders focused on quality control and standards. Putin and BRICS are building this partnership model based on nondomestic interference.
Countries like Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others who just gained entry are tired of G-7 money printing, domestic interference and US NATO War machine in particular.
Russian people love Putin's BRICS policy agenda.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Which were "given back" only because Russia couldn't even maintain the financial strength of their rotten empire. Putin regrets it to this day.
TaiwanIsNotChina
A treaty to which Russia or the USSR were not part of and specifically said at the time didn't include these islands (hense why they didn't sign).
Not how this works as people can be forcibly removed as Russia is expert at.
rainyday
Less enthusiastic about his "I'm going to round all of you up and send you to die in Ukraine" policy agenda.
TokyoLiving
If Japan wasn't doing stupid anti-Russian things just to please the US, they would now be negotiating with Russia and Japan recovering at least half of the islands..
HopeSpringsEternal
True, but not voting in Russian Parliament to reject military manpower recruitment like in Ukraine = obvious that Ukraine the MOST Un-Enthusiastic about War
Japan needs more young people, not old frozen islands
リッチ
Isn't the east where they send their criminals to work in and make sand everyday? maybe he is visiting to just setup his new residence.
rainyday
Yeah, you'll find that most people are un-enthusiastic about their country being invaded by a fascist neighbor like Russia. Go figure.
isabelle
At first, your argument was "Nearly every global south country," and now it's dropped to "dozens." As we see often, those posting disinformation try to change their argument when it is shown to be wrong.
Here's a list I've found (not sure if it's 100% accurate). I count 24 -- removing Argentina -- and who knows if these countries will actually join. The list contains some of the worst countries on earth, though no doubt you would disagree with me on that.
https://watcher.guru/news/brics-full-list-of-countries-that-want-to-join-alliance
You, or I, cannot know this, as it is next-to-impossible to get accurate polling data in an authoritarian state like Russia.
wolfshine
So if I understand this correctly, Japan only relinquished claims to the northern "Kuril Islands", but not the southern ones. In spite of that, Putin is trying to claim all of them. The whole "tourism" strategy seems to be more of a way of getting people onto the islands so they can then have an excuse to say they need to protect them. In other words, the current Crimea playbook.
Of course the true strategic value has little to do with the islands themselves, but of the waters surrounding them. He who controls the islands controls the waters, and thus has full freedom of movement from a naval perspective.
For Japan, I think it's important for them to be assertive and aggressive about protecting their territorial waters. Though I'm not really sure what they can do besides argue their case, at the present time. The J-Naval forces are still rebuilding, and with what is going on in the more geopolitically important southern territorial waters, it will be difficult for them to do very much about Russia's actions in the northern ones.
deanzaZZR
From my one time reading the bottomline is what is defined as a Kuril Island. Japan claims its "Northern Territories" are not part of the Kuril Islands. Make of that what you will.
nik
the beginning of the war in Ukraine showed the whole world who is an enemy for Russia and who is a friend. Therefore, what is there to yell about who owes what to whom. If you want to be friends with America, then forget about the islands, if you want to be friends with Russia, then come to an agreement as friends. Conclude a peace treaty without any conditions and continue to resolve controversial issues as friends and comrades. And if you want to be friends with America, and America is a geopolitical opponent for Russia, then let them help you in resolving this issue. By the way, America and Great Britain decided to deal with the Nazi allies in the Far East, which were Japan. So thank your American friends who also dropped atomic bombs on Japan
stormcrow
Such a jerk!
TaiwanIsNotChina
So not recovering what they are owed. Doesn't sound like a fair deal from allying with scummy Russia.
nik
Japan needs to think with its own head, and not listen to its “friends” from America, who almost destroyed all of Japan with atomic bombardments. Russian President Putin has every right to come to these islands and not ask permission from Tokyo. America “dumped” the Japanese, scared them with nuclear bombardments, and then gave them money and bought all of Japan. And the whole world knows about it. Putin suggested that Mr. ABE conclude a peace treaty without preconditions. If you want to be friends, we sign a peace treaty and then we will decide everything as friends. But the answer is Silence.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Thankfully Putin doesn't get all of the say in this dispute. He shouldn't even get to represent Russia in this dispute.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The US secured Japan's post-war existence as a prosperous country. Despite Russia. And the whole world knows about it.
Yeah no. You give back what you stole or otherwise offer compensation before anyone says they are all good.
elephant200
He should!
JJE
They lost the islands for teaming up with Hitler in WWII. Similar to how Germany lost East Prussia.
That type of behavior should not be rewarded.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Only Russia believes in the "land for peace" program because they don't remember they had their own "land for peace" program in 1917/18.
UChosePoorly
Nobody wants to be friends with Russia except for places that can't be any better friends.
William77
And this is one of the main reasons why Japan is declining economically and socially.
The country is to
o much fixated with the past but doing nothing for it’s decaying future.
According to such logic then the other two countries from the former axis should have rights to reclaim lost territories.
Italy should ask to Croatia and Slovenia to have back Istria which was sized by Tito’s army back in 1945 and Germany which from the three former allies lost most of it’s original territories with a total of 30% and not just a few rocks in the sea should ask to Poland,Slovakia and Russia to reclaim all East Prussia,Slesia and Kaliningrad (Königsberg)
Japan must accept as his other two major former allies in the last world conflict the outcome of the war and look at the future.
nik
Russia owes nothing to anyone, especially Japan. Which has no political weight in this matter. Japan, even in Okinawa with its “friends” from the United States, cannot restore order with the American bases. Previously, it was necessary to think about how to resolve geopolitical issues peacefully, now everyone is divided on different sides. This Japan has some problems all over its islands, in the south and in the north.
Kaowaiinekochanknaw
We should all be allowed to visit any part of the Earth as we are human beings and the World is our home.
Baradzed
That is not entirely true. One example is Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island.
nandakandamanda
Perhaps Putin hopes to make a tourist attraction from the villages and houses and graves of the Japanese population who lived and worked there, some of whom are elderly but still alive today?
fallaffel
Stop importing Russian gas. Take away their income and let them have these frozen rocks.
Redtail Swift
OMG! Any of you ever look at Google Maps ( Kuril Islands )? It's a bunch of rocks.
Putin can call this a tourist spot all he wants. Ain't nobody going out there for a vacation.
Leave this alone. Not worth it.
OssanAmerica
But not to the USSR/Russia. Which is one of the several reasons that the US, UK and EU consider these four islands to be Japanese territory under Russian occupation.
OssanAmerica
A lot of misconceceptions out there.
"This article looks at two prevalent misconceptions about the U.S. government's policies on the Kuril - Northern Territories - Islands dispute. The first is that Roosevelt agreed at the Yalta Conference to cede "all" of the Kurils to the Soviet Union. In fact, the Yalta agreement never used the word "all" and it was only during August 1945, during a series of exchanges between Stalin and Truman, that Truman agreed in General Order No. 1 to grant the USSR occupation rights to "all" of the Kurils, including the southernmost islands traditionally considered to be part of Hokkaido. The Department of State's interpretation of the Yalta agreement and General Order No. 1 was that the Soviet occupation of the southernmost Kuril islands was intended to be a temporary military occupation only, until such a time that a Soviet-Japanese peace treaty transferred sovereignty of the Kurils to the USSR. The second misconception concerns the so-called "Dulles Threat Incident" of 1956, when Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu that if Japan gave up its claim to the southern Kurils to the USSR, then the United States might feel obliged to retain Okinawa in perpetuity. A large number of Scholars, and especially Soviet scholars, have claimed that Dulles's "threat" was intended to torpedo the renewal of friendly Japanese-Soviet relations. By examining newly declassified documents, this article shows that Dulles was actually trying to help the Japanese negotiators by offering them American-backed leverage against the Soviet Union. This article concludes that, contrary to many scholarly criticisms, the United States government's policy on the Kuril Island dispute has been consistent in stating that in the absence of an offical peace treaty, the disputed islands remain Japanese territory."
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2761081?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=macarthur&searchText=kuriles&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dmacarthur%2Bkuriles%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_SYC-4946%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3A9bee346f30593dcc19a10d8edc93bbcd&seq=1
Wellington
I wish Japan would tell Putin and Russia to keep the useless islands.
They are for the most part uninhabitable, cold and dreary.
Russian factories produce next to nothing in Russia what do they think they can do with the Kurile Islands ? Any Russian with half a brain is living abroad, leaving mostly uneducated folks just scraping by.
The only thiing the islands may be good for are the fishing rights.
The Pacific Ocean is big enough to feed our appetite for fish. Japan does not need the Kurile Islands.
TaiwanIsNotChina
I suspect the end result of this will be an apology and a token payment. It's very important to get the horde state to issue its first ever apology.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Thug states negotiating their border. That's hardly the kind of reform the world needs.
TaiwanIsNotChina
They have a legitimate right to ask what the heck happened. Especially Germany. Just because Italy and Germany rolled over doesn't everyone rolls over.
Japan has the clearest case of all that it didn't do anything to the Soviet Union in WW2 and so it did not deserve what the SU did to them.
HopeSpringsEternal
Pres. Putin is busy meeting voters in the far east who MUST be very interested in the Ukraine security situation, special operation on the other side of Russia.
Clearly, Pres. Putin's happy to report to the voters that the Ukraine Parliament is having second thoughts on further military mobilizations. It's EXACTLY on topic for his discussions with his voters.
Politico
BY VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA
Bloodied and exhausted: Ukraine’s effort to mobilize more troops hits trouble
Ukraine's parliament on Thursday withdrew a mobilization bill that would supply more troops to the front, but which has come under ferocious attack for flaws in how it was drafted.
HopeSpringsEternal
Every politician running for re-election likes to give his or her citizens, the voters good news after all. It's their job to persuade and nothing persuades more than success.
Mr. Putin is certainly a successful politician by any measure, based on a long track record; surely nothing is more important to Russian voters than Ukraine conflict.