Vladimir Putin visited Iturup, at the southern end of the Kuril chain, on Thursday. It was his first trip to the islands, which Russia has administered since 1945 and which Japan claims as its Northern Territories.
Tokyo lodged a protest the same day. "The northern territories, including Etorofu, are Japan's inherent territory both historically and based on international law," Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said. "Japan strongly protests this visit."
Etorofu is the Japanese name for the island Russia calls Iturup. It is the largest of the four islands in dispute, and the only one of the four a Russian president has now set foot on.
Soviet forces took the chain in the closing weeks of the Second World War. Eight decades on, Moscow and Tokyo have still not signed a treaty formally ending that war between them, and the four islands are the reason. Russia broke off talks on a treaty in 2022 after Japan joined the sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. They have not resumed.
Reuters reported that the visit followed major naval drills in the region and a missile firing by North Korea a day earlier.
Neither government treats the dispute as dormant. Russia has expanded its military presence across the chain over the past decade, and Japanese ministers restate the claim at each escalation. What changed on Thursday was the seniority of the visitor, not the legal position of either side.
For Australia the relevance runs through Japan, which is its closest defence partner in the region outside the United States. The two countries operate under a reciprocal access agreement that has been in force since 2023 and allows their forces to train on each other's territory. Australia and Japan are also two of the four members of the Quad, alongside the United States and India.
There is no peace treaty, no negotiation under way and no change to who administers the islands. Japan's protest was lodged through diplomatic channels and Russia has not indicated it will respond.
