Russian President Vladimir Putin opens another hot front on the international stage. This time in the Far East of the vast Russian Federation. In fact, Moscow’s top defense officials have announced the deployment of mobile coastal defense missile systems on one of the Kuril Islands, an archipelago between Japan and Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula. A territory claimed by Tokyo and controlled by Russia, with a dispute that has dragged on since World War II, when the Soviets occupied the archipelago.
Beyond the historical issues, however, there is the tension that has arisen between the two countries. On the one hand, Russia which, in addition to deploying missiles with a range of over 300 miles on the island of Paramushir, announced permanent territorial control. On the other hand, Japan, which through its chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, declared to closely monitor Russian activity, pointing out that this activity has intensified in the east since the invasion of Ukraine in February.
The archipelago is formed by the islands Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, inhabited only by very small communities of Japanese. As mentioned, the dispute has been going on for decades, but it suddenly accelerated in the summer of 2021, when the contents of an email sent by a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) spy according to which Putin was preparing an attack on Kuril Islands. It should also be emphasized that at the start of the war in Ukraine, Japan had sanctioned Russia, thus bringing it closer to the West.
Source: IL Tempo
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.
