Japan Protests Russian Naval Exercise Near Contested Kuril Islands Close To Hokkaido

Russia carried out naval exercises near islands claimed by Japan, straining diplomatic ties days after President Vladimir Putin visited the disputed territories for the first time.

Russia launched 2 Vulkan anti-ship missiles from the cruiser Varyag and a Granit cruise missile from the nuclear-powered submarine Omsk. Onika cruise missiles were also fired from a coastal-defence system on the Kuril Islands.

Though the exact locations of the launches have not been specified, Japan has spoken against the military exercise, saying that a Russian naval exercise in the Northern Territories is against Japan’s position regarding those islands and that it is unacceptable, said Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

He added that the government was gathering more information about the exercise, while speaking at a conference in Oman.

The Kuril Islands are controlled by Russia and stretch between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan’s Hokkaido, the northernmost of four main Japanese islands.

Japan also claims 4 islands at the southern end of the chain, namely Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group. Tokyo refers to them as the Northern Territories.

The announcement of the exercise came a week after Putin visited Etorofu for the first time while Japan spoke against the visit.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi criticised the trip in a post on X, where he called the islands an “inherently Japanese territory both historically and under international law.”

Putin’s visit was “incompatible with Japan’s consistent position on the Northern Territories,” she wrote.

The visit “can only be said to have further hardened anti-Russia sentiment within Japan and made medium- to long-term recovery of relations more difficult,” she concluded.

The Russian and Japanese conflict over these islands dates back to the Second World War era when Soviet forces seized the territories by force.

The disagreement over the islands has prevented both countries from concluding a peace treaty to end their hostilities continuing since the war period.

Japan views Russian presence near the islands as a major security concern along with Chinese and North Korean activities.