Recently, Shinzo Abe announced that he would annex the disputed islands of the South Kuril chain to Japan. “I will solve the problem of the northern territories and conclude a peace treaty. As a politician, as a prime minister, I want to achieve this at all costs,” he promised his compatriots.
According to Japanese tradition, Shinzo Abe will have to commit hara-kiri to himself if he does not keep his word. It is quite possible that Vladimir Putin will help the Japanese prime minister live to a ripe old age and die a natural death. Photo by Alexander Vilf (Getty Images).
In my opinion, everything is heading towards the fact that the long-standing conflict will be resolved. The time for establishing decent relations with Japan has been chosen very well - for the empty, hard-to-reach lands, which their former owners now and then look nostalgically at, you can get a lot of material benefits from one of the most powerful economies in the world. And the lifting of sanctions as a condition for the transfer of the islands is far from the only and not the main concession, which, I am sure, our Foreign Ministry is now seeking.
So the quite expected surge of quasi-patriotism of our liberals, directed at the Russian president, should be prevented.
I have already had to analyze in detail the history of the islands of Tarabarov and Bolshoy Ussuriysky on the Amur, the loss of which Moscow snobs cannot come to terms with. The post also discussed a dispute with Norway over maritime territories, which was also resolved.
I also touched on the secret negotiations between human rights activist Lev Ponomarev and a Japanese diplomat about the “northern territories,” filmed and posted online. Generally speaking, this one video it is enough for our concerned citizens to bashfully swallow the return of the islands to Japan if it takes place. But since concerned citizens will definitely not remain silent, we must understand the essence of the problem.
Background
February 7, 1855— Shimoda treatise on trade and borders. The now disputed islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group of islands were ceded to Japan (therefore, February 7 is annually celebrated in Japan as Northern Territories Day). The issue of the status of Sakhalin remained unresolved.
May 7, 1875— Petersburg Treaty. Japan was given the rights to all 18 Kuril Islands in exchange for all of Sakhalin.
August 23, 1905- Treaty of Portsmouth resultsRussian-Japanese War.Russia ceded the southern part of Sakhalin.
February 11, 1945 — Yalta conference. THE USSR, USA and UK reached a written agreement on the entry of the Soviet Union into the war with Japan, subject to the return of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to it after the end of the war.
February 2, 1946 based on the Yalta agreements in the USSR The Yuzhno-Sakhalin region was created - on the territory of the southern part of the island Sakhalin and Kuril Islands. On January 2, 1947 she was merged with the Sakhalin region Khabarovsk Territory, which expanded to the borders of the modern Sakhalin region.
Japan enters the Cold War
September 8, 1951 The Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Japan was signed in San Francisco. Regarding the currently disputed territories, it says the following: “Japan renounces all rights, title and claims to the Kuril Islands and to that part of Sakhalin Island and the adjacent islands over which Japan acquired sovereignty under the Treaty of Portsmouth of September 5, 1905.”
The USSR sent a delegation to San Francisco headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A.A. Gromyko. But not in order to sign a document, but to voice my position. We formulated the mentioned clause of the agreement as follows:“Japan recognizes the full sovereignty of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics over the southern part of Sakhalin Island with all the adjacent islands and the Kuril Islands and renounces all rights, title and claims to these territories.”
Of course, in our version the agreement is specific and more in line with the spirit and letter of the Yalta agreements. However, the Anglo-American version was accepted. The USSR did not sign it, Japan did.
Today, some historians believe that The USSR had to sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty in the form in which it was proposed by the Americans— this would strengthen our negotiating position. “We should have signed the agreement. I don’t know why we didn’t do this - perhaps because of vanity or pride, but above all, because Stalin overestimated his capabilities and the degree of his influence on the United States,” N.S. wrote in his memoirs .Khrushchev. But soon, as we will see further, he himself made a mistake.
From today's perspective, the absence of a signature on the notorious treaty is sometimes considered almost a diplomatic failure. However, the international situation at that time was much more complex and was not limited to the Far East. Perhaps what seems like a loss to someone, in those conditions became a necessary measure.
Japan and sanctions
It is sometimes mistakenly believed that since we do not have a peace treaty with Japan, then we are in a state of war. However, this is not at all true.
December 12, 1956 An exchange ceremony took place in Tokyo to mark the entry into force of the Joint Declaration. According to the document, the USSR agreed to “the transfer to Japan of the islands of Habomai and the island of Shikotan, however, that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will be made after the conclusion of a peace treaty between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan.”
The parties came to this formulation after several rounds of long negotiations. Japan's initial proposal was simple: a return to Potsdam - that is, the transfer of all the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin to it. Of course, such a proposal from the side that lost the war looked somewhat frivolous.
The USSR was not going to give up an inch, but unexpectedly for the Japanese, they suddenly offered Habomai and Shikotan. This was a fallback position, approved by the Politburo, but declared prematurely - the head of the Soviet delegation, Ya. A. Malik, was acutely worried about N. S. Khrushchev’s dissatisfaction with him due to the protracted negotiations. On August 9, 1956, during a conversation with his counterpart in the garden of the Japanese Embassy in London, the fallback position was announced. It was this that was included in the text of the Joint Declaration.
It is necessary to clarify that the influence of the United States on Japan at that time was enormous (as it is now). They carefully monitored all its contacts with the USSR and, undoubtedly, were a third party to the negotiations, albeit invisible.
At the end of August 1956, Washington threatened Tokyo that if, under a peace treaty with the USSR, Japan renounces its claims to Kunashir and Iturup, the United States would forever retain the occupied island of Okinawa and the entire Ryukyu archipelago. The note contained wording that clearly played on the national feelings of the Japanese: “The US government has come to the conclusion that the islands of Iturup and Kunashir (along with the islands of Habomai and Shikotan, which are part of Hokkaido) have always been part of Japan and should rightly be considered as belonging to Japan " That is, the Yalta agreements were publicly disavowed.
The ownership of the “northern territories” of Hokkaido, of course, is a lie - on all military and pre-war Japanese maps, the islands were always part of the Kuril ridge and were never designated separately. However, I liked the idea. It was on this geographical absurdity that entire generations of politicians in the Land of the Rising Sun made their careers.
The peace treaty has not yet been signed; in our relations we are guided by the Joint Declaration of 1956.
Price issue
I think that even in the first term of his presidency, Vladimir Putin decided to resolve all controversial territorial issues with his neighbors. Including with Japan. In any case, back in 2004, Sergei Lavrov formulated the position of the Russian leadership: “We have always fulfilled and will fulfill our obligations, especially ratified documents, but, of course, to the extent that our partners are ready to fulfill the same agreements . So far, as we know, we have not been able to come to an understanding of these volumes as we see it and as we saw in 1956.”
“Until Japan’s ownership of all four islands is clearly determined, a peace treaty will not be concluded,” responded then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The negotiation process has again reached a dead end.
However, this year we again remembered the peace treaty with Japan.
In May, at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to negotiate with Japan on the disputed islands, and the solution should be a compromise. That is, neither party should feel like a loser. “Are you ready to negotiate? Yes, we are ready. But we were surprised to hear recently that Japan has joined some kind of sanctions - what does Japan have to do with this, I don’t really understand - and is suspending the negotiation process on this topic. So, are we ready, is Japan ready, I still haven’t figured it out for myself,” said the Russian President.
It looks like the pain point has been found correctly. And the negotiation process (hopefully, this time in offices tightly closed from American ears) has been in full swing for at least six months. Otherwise, Shinzo Abe would not have made such promises.
If we fulfill the terms of the 1956 Joint Declaration and return the two islands to Japan, 2,100 people will have to be resettled. They all live on Shikotan; only the border post is located on Habomai. Most likely, the problem of our armed forces being on the islands is being discussed. However, for complete control over the region, the troops stationed on Sakhalin, Kunashir and Iturup are quite sufficient.
Another question is what kind of reciprocal concessions we expect from Japan. It is clear that sanctions must be lifted - this is not even discussed. Perhaps access to credit and technology, increased participation in joint projects? It's possible.
Be that as it may, Shinzo Abe faces a difficult choice. The conclusion of a long-awaited peace treaty with Russia, flavored with the “northern territories,” would certainly make him the politician of the century in his homeland. It will inevitably lead to tension in Japan's relations with the United States. I wonder what the Prime Minister will prefer.
But we will somehow survive the internal Russian tension that our liberals will fan.
The Habomai Island group is labeled "Other Islands" on this map. These are a few white spots between Shikotan and Hokkaido.
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Then it became known that the Ainu called the Russians “brothers” because of their external similarity. “And those bearded ones call the Russian people their brothers,” reported the conductor of Moskvitin’s expeditions, the Yakut Cossack Nehoroshko Ivanovich Kolobov, in a “skate” presented by Moskvitin to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in January 1646 about serving in Moskvitin’s detachment, when he spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the islands. The first Russian settlements of that time are evidenced by Dutch, German and Scandinavian medieval chronicles and maps. The first information about the Kuril Islands and their inhabitants reached the Russians in the middle of the 17th century.
New information about the Kuril Islands appeared after Vladimir Atlasov's campaign to Kamchatka in 1697, during which the islands were explored as far as Simushir in the south.
XVIII century
Map of Japan and Korea, published by the National Geographic Society of the United States, 1945. Detail. The signature in red under the Kuril Islands reads: “In 1945, in Yalta, it was agreed that Russia would regain Karafuto and the Kuril Islands.”
San Francisco Peace Treaty (1951). Chapter II. Territory.
c) Japan renounces all rights, title and claims to the Kuril Islands and to that part of Sakhalin Island and the adjacent islands over which Japan acquired sovereignty under the Treaty of Portsmouth of September 5, 1905.
Original text(English)
(c) Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kurile Islands, and to that portion of Sakhalin and the islands adjacent to it over which Japan acquired sovereignty as a consequence of the Treaty of Portsmouth of 5 September 1905.
Post-war agreements
Joint Declaration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan (1956). Article 9.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan agreed to continue negotiations on concluding a Peace Treaty after the restoration of normal diplomatic relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan.
At the same time, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer to Japan of the islands of Habomai and the island of Shikotan with the fact that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will be made after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan .
December 13, 2006. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Taro Aso, at a meeting of the foreign policy committee of the lower house of representatives of parliament spoke in favor of dividing the southern part of the disputed Kuril Islands in half with Russia. There is a point of view that in this way the Japanese side hopes to solve a long-standing problem in Russian-Japanese relations. However, immediately after Taro Aso’s statement, the Japanese Foreign Ministry disavowed his words, emphasizing that they were misinterpreted.
June 11, 2009. The lower house of the Japanese parliament approved amendments to the law “On special measures to promote the resolution of the issue of the Northern Territories and similar ones,” which contain a provision on the ownership of the four islands of the South Kuril ridge to Japan. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which it called such actions by the Japanese side inappropriate and unacceptable. On June 24, 2009, a statement by the State Duma was published, in which, in particular, the opinion of the State Duma was stated that in the current conditions, efforts to resolve the problem of a peace treaty, in fact, have lost both political and practical perspective and will only make sense in case of disavowal of amendments adopted by Japanese parliamentarians. On July 3, 2009, the amendments were approved by the Upper House of the Japanese Diet.
September 14, 2009. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama hopes to make progress in negotiations with Russia over the southern Kuril Islands “over the next six months to a year.” .
September 23, 2009. At a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Hatoyama spoke of his desire to resolve the territorial dispute and conclude a peace treaty with Russia.
On April 1, 2010, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Nesterenko made a comment in which he announced the approval on April 1 by the Government of Japan of changes and additions to the so-called. “The main course to promote the solution of the problem of the northern territories” and stated that the repetition of unfounded territorial claims against Russia cannot benefit the dialogue on the issue of concluding a Russian-Japanese peace treaty, as well as maintaining normal contacts between the southern Kuril Islands, which are part of the Sakhalin regions of Russia, and Japan.
On September 29, 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced his intention to visit the southern Kuril Islands. Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara made a statement in response, saying that Medvedev’s possible trip to these territories would create “serious obstacles” in bilateral relations. On October 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview that he sees “no connection” between the Russian President’s possible visit to the Kuril Islands and Russian-Japanese relations: “The President himself decides which areas Russian Federation he visits."
On November 1, 2010, Dmitry Medvedev arrived on the island of Kunashir; until that moment, the heads of Russia had never visited the disputed southern Kuril Islands (in 1990, the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, Boris Yeltsin, came to the Kuril Islands). Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan expressed “extreme regret” in this regard: “The four northern islands are the territory of our country, and we have consistently taken this position. The President's trip there is extremely regrettable. I am clearly aware that territories are the basis of national sovereignty. The areas that the USSR entered after August 15, 1945 are our territories. We have consistently maintained this position and insisted on their return." Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara confirmed the Japanese position: “It is known that these are our ancestral territories. The Russian President’s trip there hurts the feelings of our people and is extremely regrettable.” The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which the Japanese side indicated that “the attempts it is making to influence the choice by the President of the Russian Federation D. A. Medvedev of his travel routes across the territory of the Russian Federation are absolutely unacceptable and incompatible with the good neighborly nature of Russian-Japanese relations that have developed in recent times.” years". At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sharply criticized the Japanese side's reaction to President Medvedev's visit, calling it unacceptable. Sergei Lavrov also emphasized that these islands are Russian territory.
On November 2, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara announced that the head of the Japanese mission in Russia would temporarily return to Tokyo to receive further information about the Russian president’s visit to the Kuril Islands. A week and a half later, the Japanese ambassador returned to Russia. At the same time, the meeting between Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Congress, scheduled for November 13-14, was not cancelled. Also on November 2, information appeared that President Dmitry Medvedev would make a return visit to the Kuril Islands.
On November 13, the Foreign Ministers of Japan and Russia, Seiji Maehara and Sergei Lavrov, at a meeting in Yokohama, confirmed their intention to develop bilateral relations in all areas and agreed to search for a mutually acceptable solution to the territorial issue.
Russia's basic position
Moscow’s principled position is that the southern Kuril Islands became part of the USSR, of which Russia became the legal successor, are an integral part of the territory of the Russian Federation on legal grounds following the Second World War and enshrined in the UN Charter, and Russian sovereignty over them, which has the corresponding international -legal confirmation is beyond doubt. In 2012, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that the problem of the Kuril Islands could be resolved in Russia only by holding a referendum. Subsequently, the Russian Foreign Ministry officially denied raising the question of any referendum: “This is a gross distortion of the minister’s words. We regard such interpretations as provocative. No sane politician would ever put this issue to a referendum." In addition, the Russian authorities once again officially confirmed the unconditional indisputability of the ownership of the islands to Russia, stating that in connection with this, the question of any referendum cannot by definition arise.
Japan's Basic Position
Japan's Basic Position
(1) The Northern Territories are centuries-old Japanese territories that continue to be under illegal Russian occupation. The government of the United States of America also consistently supports Japan's position.
(2) In order to resolve this issue and conclude a peace treaty as quickly as possible, Japan is vigorously continuing negotiations with Russia on the basis of agreements already reached, such as the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration, the 1993 Tokyo Declaration, the 2001 Irkutsk Statement and the Japanese-Soviet Declaration. Russian action plan 2003.
(3) According to the Japanese position, if it is confirmed that the Northern Territories belong to Japan, Japan is ready to be flexible in the time and procedure for their return. In addition, since Japanese citizens living in the Northern Territories were forcibly evicted by Joseph Stalin, Japan is willing to reach an agreement with the Russian government so that Russian citizens living there will not suffer the same tragedy. In other words, after the return of the islands to Japan, Japan intends to respect the rights, interests and desires of the Russians currently living on the islands.
(4) The Government of Japan has urged the Japanese population not to visit the Northern Territories outside of the visa-free procedure until the territorial dispute is resolved. Likewise, Japan cannot permit any activity, including the economic activity of third parties, that could be considered subject to Russia's “jurisdiction,” nor may it permit any activity that would imply Russia's “jurisdiction” over the Northern Territories. It is Japan's policy to take appropriate measures to prevent such activities.
Original text(English)
Japan's Basic Position
(1) The Northern Territories are inherent territories of Japan that continues to be illegally occupied by Russia. The Government of the United States of America has also consistently supported Japan's position.
(2) In order to solve this issue and to conclude a peace treaty as soon as possible, Japan has energetically continued negotiations with Russia on the basis of the agreements and documents created by the two sides so far, such as the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration of 1956, the Tokyo Declaration of 1993, the Irkutsk Statement of 2001 and the Japan-Russia Action Plan of 2003.
(3) Japan's position is that if the attribution of the Northern Territories to Japan is confirmed, Japan is prepared to respond flexibly to the timing and manner of their actual return. In addition, since Japanese citizens who once lived in the Northern Territories were forcibly displaced by Joseph Stalin, Japan is ready to forge a settlement with the Russian government so that the Russian citizens living there will not experience the same tragedy. In other words, after the return of the islands to Japan, Japan intends to respect the rights, interests and wishes of the Russian current residents on the islands.
(4) The Japanese government has requested Japanese people not to enter the Northern Territories without using the non-visa visit frameworks until the territorial issue is resolved. Similarly, Japan cannot allow any activities, including economic activities by a third party, which could be regarded as submitting to Russian “jurisdiction,” nor allow any activities carried out under the presumption that Russia has “jurisdiction” in the Northern Territories. Japan is of the policy to take appropriate steps to ensure that this does not happen. .
Original text(Japanese)
日本の基本的立場
（１）北方領土は、ロシアによる不法占拠が続いていますが、日本固有の領土であり、この点については例えば米国政府も一貫して日本の立場を支持しています。政府は、北方四島の帰属の問題を解決して平和条約を締結するという基本的方針に基づいて、ロシア政府との間で強い意思をもって交渉を行っています。
（ ２認されるのであれば、実際の返還の時期及び態様については、柔軟に対応する、2）北方領土 利益及び希望は、北方領土返還後も十分尊重していくこととしています。
? Homeもロシア側の「 、または、あたかも北方領土に対するロシア北方領土問題に対する我が国の立場と相容 れず、容認できません。 1989 Homeに 入域することを行わないよう要請しています。
（４）また、政府は、第三国国民がロシアの査証を取得した上で北方四島へ入域する、または第三国企業が北方領土において経済活動を行っているという情報に接した場合、従来から、しかるべく事実関係を確認の上、申入れを行ってきています 。
Defense aspect and the danger of armed conflict
In connection with the territorial dispute over the ownership of the southern Kuril Islands, there is a danger of military conflict with Japan. Currently, the Kuril Islands are defended by a machine-gun and artillery division (the only one in Russia), and Sakhalin by a motorized rifle brigade. These formations are armed with 41 T-80 tanks, 120 MT-LB transporters, 20 coastal anti-ship missile systems, 130 artillery systems, 60 anti-aircraft weapons (Buk, Tunguska, Shilka complexes), 6 Mi-8 helicopters. The Japanese armed forces consist of: 1 tank and 9 infantry divisions, 16 brigades (about 1,000 tanks, more than 1,000 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, about 2,000 artillery systems, 90 attack helicopters), 200 F-15 fighters, 50 F-2 fighter-bombers and up to 100 F-4. The Russian Pacific Fleet has 3 nuclear submarines with ballistic missiles(SSBN), 4 nuclear submarines with cruise missiles (SSGN), 3 multi-purpose nuclear submarines, 7 diesel boats, 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, 4 large anti-submarine ships, 4 landing ships, 14 missile boats, about 30 warships of other types (minesweepers , small anti-submarine, etc.). The Japanese fleet consists of 20 diesel submarines, a light aircraft carrier, 44 destroyers (6 of them with the Aegis system), 6 frigates, 7 missile boats, 5 landing ships and about 40 auxiliary ships.
In the event of an armed conflict, Japan's goal will be to block sea and air communications to the southern Kuril Islands.
Political-economic and military-strategic value of the issue
Ownership of the islands and navigation
It is often stated that the only Russian ice-free straits of Catherine and Frieza from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific Ocean lie between the islands, and thus, if the islands are transferred to Japan, the Russian Pacific Fleet will have difficulty entering the Pacific Ocean in the winter months:
The head of the Federal Main Directorate of the Sakhalin MAP of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Egorov M.I., during the report, especially warned that in the event of a concession to the territorial demands of Japan, Russia will lose the ice-free Frieze Strait and the Catherine Strait. Thus, Russia will lose free access to the Pacific Ocean. Japan will definitely make passage through the straits paid or limited.
As stated in the Law of the Sea:
A state has the right to temporarily suspend peaceful passage through certain sections of its territorial waters if this is urgently required by the interests of its security.
However, restricting Russian shipping - except for warships in a conflict - in these straits, and even more so introducing a fee, would contradict some provisions generally recognized in international law (including those recognized in
The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean with a slightly convex arc. Length - about 1200 km. The total area is 15.6 thousand km². To the south of them lies the state border of the Russian Federation with Japan. The islands form two parallel ridges: the Greater Kuril and the Lesser Kuril. Includes 30 large and many small islands. They have important military-strategic and economic significance. The Kuril Islands are part of the Sakhalin region of Russia.
The climate on the islands is maritime, quite harsh, with cold and long winters, cool summers, and high humidity. The mainland monsoon climate undergoes significant changes here. In the southern part of the Kuril Islands, frosts in winter can reach −25 °C, the average February temperature is −8 °C. In the northern part, winter is milder, with frosts down to −16 °C and −7 °C in February.
The Kuril Islands are a typical ensimatic island arc on the edge of the Okhotsk plate. It lies above a subduction zone in which the Pacific plate is being absorbed. Most of mountainous islands. The highest altitude is 2339 m - Atlasov Island, Alaid Volcano. The Kuril Islands are located in the Pacific volcanic ring of fire in a zone of high seismic activity: out of 68 volcanoes, 36 are active, and there are hot mineral springs. Large tsunamis are common. The best known are the tsunami of November 5, 1952 at Paramushir and the Shikotan tsunami of October 5, 1994. The last major tsunami occurred on November 15, 2006 in Simushir.
Industrial reserves of non-ferrous metal ores, mercury, natural gas, and oil have been explored on the islands and in the coastal zone. On the island of Iturup, in the area of the Kudryavy volcano, there is the richest rhenium mineral deposit known in the world. Here, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Japanese mined native sulfur. The total resources of gold on the Kuril Islands are estimated at 1867 tons, silver - 9284 tons, titanium - 39.7 million tons, iron - 273 million tons. Currently, mineral development is not numerous.
Of all the Kuril straits, only the Frieza Strait and the Catherine Strait are non-freezing navigable.
Settlement history
Representative of the Russian-American Company Nikolai Rezanov, who arrived in Nagasaki as the first Russian envoy, tried to resume negotiations on trade with Japan in 1805. But he too failed. However, Japanese officials, who were not satisfied with the despotic policy of the supreme power, hinted to him that it would be nice to carry out a forceful action in these lands, which could push the situation from a dead point. This was carried out on behalf of Rezanov in 1806-1807 by an expedition of two ships led by Lieutenant Khvostov and Midshipman Davydov. Ships were looted, a number of trading posts were destroyed, and a Japanese village on Iturup was burned. They were later tried, but the attack led to a serious deterioration in Russian-Japanese relations for some time. In particular, this was the reason for the arrest of Vasily Golovnin’s expedition.
In exchange for ownership of southern Sakhalin, Russia transferred all of the Kuril Islands to Japan in 1875.
After defeat in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Russia transferred the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan.
In February 1945, the Soviet Union promised the United States and Great Britain to start a war with Japan, subject to the return of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
February 2, 1946. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the formation in the territory of Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands of the South Sakhalin Region as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR.
1947. Deportation of Japanese and Ainu from the islands to Japan. 17,000 Japanese and an unknown number of Ainu were evicted.
November 5, 1952. A powerful tsunami hit the entire coast of the Kuril Islands, Paramushir was hit the hardest. A giant wave washed away the city of Severo-Kurilsk (formerly Kashiwabara). It was forbidden to mention this disaster in the press.
In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan adopted the Joint Treaty, officially ending the war between the two countries and handing over Habomai and Shikotan to Japan. However, it was not possible to sign the agreement, because according to it it turned out that Japan was renouncing the rights to Iturup and Kunashir, which is why the United States threatened not to give Japan the island of Okinawa.
At the end of World War II in February 1945, Yalta Conference The heads of power of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition reached an agreement on the unconditional return of the southern part of Sakhalin and the transfer of the Kuril Islands to the Soviet Union after the victory over Japan.
On July 26, 1945, as part of the Potsdam Conference, the Potsdam Declaration was adopted, limiting the sovereignty of Japan to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. On August 8, the USSR joined the Potsdam Declaration. On August 14, Japan accepted the terms of the Declaration and on September 2, 1945, signed the Instrument of Surrender, confirming these terms. But these documents did not directly talk about the transfer of the Kuril Islands to the USSR.
On August 18 - September 1, 1945, Soviet troops carried out the Kuril landing operation and occupied, among other things, the southern Kuril Islands - Urup, Iturup, Kunashir and the Lesser Kuril Ridge.
In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of February 2, 1946, in these territories, after their exclusion from Japan by Memorandum No. 677 of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces of January 29, 1946, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was formed as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR, which on January 2 In 1947 it became part of the newly formed Sakhalin region as part of the RSFSR.
On September 8, 1951, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, according to which it renounced “all rights, title and claims to the Kuril Islands and to that part of Sakhalin Island and the adjacent islands, sovereignty over which Japan acquired under the Treaty of Portsmouth of September 5, 1905 ." When discussing the San Francisco Treaty in the US Senate, a resolution was adopted containing the following clause: It is provided that the terms of the Treaty will not mean recognition for the USSR of any rights or claims to territories belonging to Japan on December 7, 1941, which caused would be detrimental to Japan's rights and title to these territories, nor would any provisions in favor of the USSR in relation to Japan contained in the Yalta Agreement be recognized. Due to serious claims to the draft treaty, representatives of the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia refused to sign it. The treaty was also not signed by Burma, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, India, the DPRK, the PRC and the MPR, which were not represented at the conference.
Japan makes territorial claims to the southern Kuril Islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai with a total area of 5175 km². These islands are called the Northern Territories in Japan. Japan justifies its claims with the following arguments:
– According to Article 2 of the Shimoda Treaty of 1855, these islands were included in Japan and they are the original possession of Japan.
– This group of islands, according to the official position of Japan, is not part of the Kuril chain (Chishima Islands) and, having signed the act of surrender and the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan did not abandon them.
The USSR did not sign the San Francisco Treaty.
In 1956, the Moscow Declaration was signed, which ended the state of war and established diplomatic and consular relations between the USSR and Japan.
A peace treaty has still not been signed due to Japan's remaining claims to the islands of Kunashir and Iturup.
On November 14, 2004, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan, stated that Russia, as a successor state of the USSR, recognizes the 1956 Declaration as existing and is ready to conduct territorial negotiations with Japan on its basis.
It is noteworthy that on November 1, 2010, Russian President D. A. Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the Kuril Islands. President Dmitry Medvedev emphasized then that “all islands of the Kuril chain are the territory of the Russian Federation. This is our land, and we must develop the Kuril Islands.” The Japanese side remained irreconcilable and called this visit regrettable, which in turn caused a response from the Russian Foreign Ministry, according to which there could be no changes in the ownership status of the Kuril Islands.
Demography
The Kuril Islands are populated extremely unevenly. The population lives permanently only in Paramushir, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan. The other islands have no permanent population. At the beginning of 2010, there were 19 settlements: two cities (Severo-Kurilsk, Kurilsk), an urban-type settlement (Yuzhno-Kurilsk) and 16 villages.
The maximum population value was noted in 1989 and amounted to 29.5 thousand people. During Soviet times, the population of the islands was significantly higher due to high subsidies and large quantity military personnel. Thanks to the military, the islands of Shumshu, Onekotan, Simushir and others were populated.
As of 2010, the population of the islands is 18.7 thousand people, including 6.1 thousand people in the Kuril urban district (on the only inhabited island of Iturup, also includes Urup, Simushir, etc.); in the South Kuril urban district - 10.3 thousand people. (Kunashir, Shikotan and other islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge (Habomai)); in the North Kuril urban district - 2.4 thousand people (on the only inhabited island of Paramushir, also includes Shumshu, Onekotan, etc.)
The mysterious Kuril Islands are a paradise for any romantic traveler. Inaccessibility, uninhabitation, geographical isolation, active volcanoes, a far from “beach climate”, scant information - not only do not deter, but also increase the desire to get to the foggy, fire-breathing islands - former military fortresses of the Japanese army, still hidden deep underground many secrets.
The Kuril Arc, with a narrow chain of islands, like an openwork bridge, connects two worlds - Kamchatka and Japan. The Kuril Islands are part of the Pacific volcanic ring. The islands are the tops of the highest structures of the volcanic ridge, protruding from the water only 1-2 km, and extending into the depths of the ocean for many kilometers.
In total, there are over 150 volcanoes on the islands, of which 39 are active. The highest of them is the Alaid volcano - 2339 m, located on Atlasov Island. The presence of numerous thermal springs on the islands, some of them therapeutic, is associated with volcanic activity.
Experts compare the Kuril Islands with a huge Botanical Garden, where representatives of various floras coexist: Japanese-Korean, Manchurian and Okhotsk-Kamchatka. Here grow together - polar birch and thousand-year-old yew, larch with spruce and wild grapes, dwarf cedar and velvet tree, interweaving of woody vines and carpet thickets of lingonberries. Traveling around the islands, you can visit various natural zones, get from pristine taiga to subtropical thickets, from mossy tundra to the jungle of giant grasses.
The seabed around the islands is covered with dense vegetation, in the thickets of which numerous fish, shellfish, sea animals, and crystal pure water makes it possible for lovers of underwater travel to navigate well in the seaweed jungle, where unique finds also occur - sunken ships and Japanese military equipment - reminders of military events in the history of the Kuril archipelago.
Yuzhno-Kurilsk, Kunashir 
GEOGRAPHY, WHERE THEY ARE, HOW TO GET THERE
The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean with a slightly convex arc.
Length - about 1200 km. The total area is 10.5 thousand km². To the south of them lies the state border of the Russian Federation with Japan.
The islands form two parallel ridges: the Greater Kuril and the Lesser Kuril. Includes 56 islands. They have important military-strategic and economic significance. The Kuril Islands are part of the Sakhalin region of Russia. The southern islands of the archipelago - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group - are disputed by Japan, which includes them in Hokkaido Prefecture.
The Kuril Islands belong to the Far North
The climate on the islands is maritime, quite harsh, with cold and long winters, cool summers, and high humidity. The mainland monsoon climate undergoes significant changes here. In the southern part of the Kuril Islands, frosts in winter can reach −25 °C, the average temperature in February is −8 °C. In the northern part, winter is milder, with frosts down to −16 °C and −7 °C in February.
In winter, the islands are affected by the Aleutian baric minimum, the effect of which weakens by June.
The average August temperature in the southern part of the Kuril Islands is +17 °C, in the northern part - +10 °C.
Iturup Island, White Rocks Kuril Islands 
List of KURIL ISLANDS
List of islands with an area greater than 1 km² in a north-south direction.
Name, Area, km², height, Latitude, Longitude
Great Kuril Ridge
Northern group
Atlasova 150 2339 50°52" 155°34"
Shumshu 388 189 50°45" 156°21"
Paramushir 2053 1816 50°23" 155°41"
Antsiferova 7 747 50°12" 154°59"
Makanrushi 49 1169 49°46" 154°26"
Onekotan 425 1324 49°27" 154°46"
Kharimkotan 68 1157 49°07" 154°32"
Chirinkotan 6 724 48°59" 153°29"
Ekarma 30 1170 48°57" 153°57"
Shiashkotan 122 934 48°49" 154°06"
Middle group
Raikoke 4.6 551 48°17" 153°15"
Matua 52 1446 48°05" 153°13"
Rashua 67 948 47°45" 153°01"
Ushishir Islands 5 388 — —
Ryponkich 1.3 121 47°32" 152°50"
Yankich 3.7 388 47°31" 152°49"
Ketoy 73 1166 47°20" 152°31"
Simushir 353 1539 46°58" 152°00"
Broughton 7 800 46°43" 150°44"
Black Brothers Islands 37,749 — —
Chirpoy 21 691 46°30" 150°55"
Brat-Chirpoev 16 749 46°28" 150°50" Kuril Islands 
Southern group
Urup 1450 1426 45°54" 149°59"
Iturup 3318.8 1634 45°00" 147°53"
Kunashir 1495.24 1819 44°05" 145°59"
Small Kuril ridge
Shikotan 264.13 412 43°48" 146°45"
Polonsky 11.57 16 43°38" 146°19"
Green 58.72 24 43°30" 146°08"
Tanfilyeva 12.92 15 43°26" 145°55"
Yuri 10.32 44 43°25" 146°04"
Anuchina 2.35 33 43°22" 146°00"
Atsonapuri volcano Kuril Islands 
Geological structure
The Kuril Islands are a typical ensimatic island arc on the edge of the Okhotsk plate. It lies above a subduction zone in which the Pacific plate is being absorbed. Most of the islands are mountainous. The highest altitude is 2339 m - Atlasov Island, Alaid Volcano. The Kuril Islands are located in the Pacific volcanic ring of fire in a zone of high seismic activity: out of 68 volcanoes, 36 are active, and there are hot mineral springs. Large tsunamis are common. The best known are the tsunami of November 5, 1952 at Paramushir and the Shikotan tsunami of October 5, 1994. The last major tsunami occurred on November 15, 2006 in Simushir.
South Kuril Bay, Kunashir Island 
Earthquakes
In Japan, an average of 1,500 earthquakes are recorded per year, i.e. 4 earthquakes per day. Most of them are associated with movement in the earth's crust (tectonics). Over 15 centuries, 223 destructive earthquakes and 2,000 of medium strength were noted and described: These, however, are far from complete figures, since earthquakes began to be recorded with special instruments in Japan only in 1888. A significant proportion of earthquakes occur in the Kuril Islands region, where they often occur appear in the form of seaquakes. Captain Snow, who hunted sea animals here for many years, repeatedly observed similar phenomena at the end of the last century. For example, on July 12, 1884, 4 miles west of the Sredneva stones, the gusty noise and shaking of the ship lasted about two hours with intervals of 15 minutes and a duration of 30 seconds. No rough seas were noticed at this time. The water temperature was normal, about 2.25°C.
Between 1737 and 1888 16 destructive earthquakes were recorded in the area of the islands in 1915-1916. - 3 catastrophic earthquakes in the middle part of the ridge, in 1929 - 2 similar earthquakes in the north.
Sometimes these phenomena are associated with underwater lava eruptions. The destructive impacts of earthquakes sometimes raise a huge wave (tsunami) in the sea, which is repeated several times. It hits the shores with colossal force, adding to the destruction caused by the shaking of the soil. The height of the wave can be judged, for example, by the case of the ship “Natalia”, sent by Lebedev-Lastochkin and Shelekhov under the command of navigator Petushkov to the 18th island: “On January 8, 1780 there was a severe earthquake; the sea rose so high that the gukor (ship A.S.), standing in the harbor, was carried into the middle of the island...” (Berkh, 1823, pp. 140-141; Pozdneev, p. 11). The wave caused by the earthquake of 1737 reached a height of 50 m and hit the shore from terrible force, breaking rocks. Several new rocks and cliffs rose up in the Second Channel. During the earthquake on the island. Simushir in 1849, all sources of groundwater dried up, and its population was forced to move to other places.
Paramushir island, Ebeko volcano 
Mendeleev volcano, Kunashir island 
Mineral springs
The presence of numerous hot and highly mineralized springs on the islands is associated with volcanic activity. They are found on almost all islands, especially on Kunashir, Iturup, Ushishir, Raikok, Shikotan, and Ekarma. The first of them has quite a few boiling springs. On others, hot keys have a temperature of 35-70°C. They come out in different places and have different flow rates.
On about. The Raikoke spring, with a temperature of 44°C, bubbles up at the base of high cliffs and forms bathtub-like pools in the cracks of solidified lava.
On about. Ushishir is a powerful boiling spring that comes out in the crater of a volcano, etc. The water of many springs is colorless, transparent, and most often contains sulfur, which is sometimes deposited in yellow grains at the edges. The water from most sources is unsuitable for drinking purposes.
Some springs are considered healing and are used for treatment on inhabited islands. Gases released by volcanoes through fissures are often also rich in sulfur fumes.
Devil's finger Kuril Islands 
Natural resources
Industrial reserves of non-ferrous metal ores, mercury, natural gas, and oil have been explored on the islands and in the coastal zone. On the island of Iturup, in the area of the Kudryavy volcano, there is the richest rhenium mineral deposit known in the world. Here, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Japanese mined native sulfur. The total resources of gold on the Kuril Islands are estimated at 1867 tons, silver - 9284 tons, titanium - 39.7 million tons, iron - 273 million tons. Currently, mineral development is not numerous.
Of all the Kuril straits, only the Frieza Strait and the Catherine Strait are non-freezing navigable.
Bird waterfall, Kunashir 
Flora and fauna
Flora
Due to the large extent of the islands from north to south, the flora of the Kuril Islands varies extremely greatly. On the northern islands (Paramushir, Shumshu and others), due to the harsh climate, tree vegetation is quite sparse and is represented mainly by shrub forms (elfin trees): alder (alder), birch, willow, rowan, dwarf cedar (cedar). On the southern islands (Iturup, Kunashir) grow coniferous forests of Sakhalin fir, Ayan spruce and Kuril larch with a large participation of broad-leaved species: curly oak, maples, elms, calopanax seven-lobed with a large number of woody vines: petiolate hydrangea, actinidia, Schisandra chinensis, wild grapes, poisonous toxicodendron orientalis, etc. In the south of Kunashir, the only wild species of magnolia in Russia is found - magnolia obovate. One of the main landscape plants of the Kuril Islands, starting from the middle islands (Ketoi and to the south) is Kuril bamboo, forming impenetrable thickets on the mountain slopes and forest edges. Due to the humid climate, tall grass is common on all islands. Various berries are widely represented: crowberry, lingonberry, blueberry, honeysuckle and others.
There are more than 40 species of endemic plants. For example, Astragalus Kavakamsky, wormwood, Kurilian edelweiss, found on the island of Iturup; Ito and Saussurea kuril, growing on the island of Urup.
The following plants are protected on the island of Iturup: the endangered Asian pommel, flowering plants Aralia mainland, Aralia cormatata, Calopanax seven-lobed, Japanese kandyk, Wright's viburnum, Glen's cardiocrinum, peony obovate, Faury's rhododendron, Sugeroki's holly, Gray's bifolia, pearl marshwort, low wolffoil, mountain peony, lichens Glossodium japonica and naked stereocaulon, gymnosperms Sargent's juniper and pointed yew, mosses Bryoxyphium savatier and Atractycarpus alpine, growing near the Baransky volcano. On the island of Urup, Viburnum Wright, Aralia cordata and Plagiotsium obtuseum are protected.
Alaid volcano, Atlasov island 
Fauna
Lives on Kunashir, Iturup and Paramushir Brown bear, a bear was also encountered on Shumshu, but during the long-term presence of a military base on the island, due to its relatively small size, the bears on Shumshu were mostly driven out. Shumshu is a connecting island between Paramushir and Kamchatka, and individual bears are now found there. The islands are inhabited by foxes and small rodents. A large number of birds: plovers, gulls, ducks, cormorants, petrels, albatrosses, passerines, owls, falcons and others. Lots of bird colonies.
The coastal underwater world, unlike the islands, is not only numerous, but also very diverse. The coastal waters are inhabited by seals, sea otters, killer whales, and sea lions. Of great commercial importance are: fish, crabs, shellfish, squid, crustaceans, sea cucumbers, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, seaweed, and whales. The seas washing the shores of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are among the most productive areas of the World Ocean.
On Iturup Island there are also endemic animals (molluscs): Lacustrina Iturupian, Sharovka Iturupian (Lake Reidovo), Kuril pearl mussel; on Lake Dobroe there are Kunashiriya sinanodontoides and Shutter Iturupian.
On February 10, 1984, the Kurilsky State Nature Reserve was created. Its territory is home to 84 species included in the Red Book of Russia.
Kunashir Island, Pervukhina Bay
History of the islands
17th-18th century
The honor of discovery, exploration and initial development of the Kuril Islands belongs to Russian expeditions and colonists.
The first visit to the islands is attributed to the Dutchman Gerrits Fries, who visited Fr. in 1643. Uruppu. Having called this land “Company Land” - Companys lant (Reclus, 1885, p. 565), Frieze, however, did not assume that it was part of the Kuril ridge.
The remaining islands north of Uruppu to Kamchatka were discovered and described by Russian “explorers” and navigators. And the Russians discovered Uruppa a second time at the beginning of the 18th century. Japan at this time knew only o. Kunashiri and the Malaya Kurilskaya ridge, but they were not part of the Japanese Empire. The extreme northern colony of Japan was about. Hokkaido.
The server islands of the Kuril ridge were first reported by the clerk of the Anadyr fort, Pentecostal Vl. Atlasov, who discovered Kamchatka. In 1697, he walked along the western shore of Kamchatka south to the mouth of the river. Golygina and from here “I saw as if there were islands on the sea.”
Not knowing that trade with foreigners had been prohibited in Japan since 1639, Peter I in 1702 gave the order to establish good-neighborly trade relations with Japan. From that time on, Russian expeditions persistently made their way south from Kamchatka in search of a trade route to Japan. In 1706, the Cossack M. Nasedkin clearly saw land in the south from Cape Lopatka. By order of the Yakut voivode to “visit” this land, the Cossack ataman D. Antsiferov and captain Ivan Kozyrevsky in 1711 went to the island. Syumushu (Shumshu) and Paramusir (Paramushir), and upon their return they compiled a “blueprint” of all the islands. To map the southern islands, they used the stories of Japanese fishermen who were thrown into Kamchatka by a storm and saw the southern islands.
During the campaign of 1713, captain Ivan Kozyrevsky again “visited” the islands beyond the “crossings” (straits) and drew up a new “drawing”. Surveyors Evreinov and Luzhin surveyed the map in 1720 from Kamchatka to the Sixth Island (Simushiru). Ten years later, the brave leader of the “explorers” V. Shestakov with 25 service people visited five northern islands. Following him, thorough work “for the sake of observation and exploration of the route to Japan” was carried out by Captain Shpanberg, Bering’s assistant on his second expedition.
During 1738-1739 Shpanberg mapped and described almost all the islands. Based on his materials, 40 islands under Russian names were shown on the “General Map of the Russian Empire” in the Academic Atlas of 1745, for example, the islands of Anfinogen, Krasnogorsk, Stolbovoy, Krivoy, Osypnoy, Kozel, Brother, Sister, Olkhovy, Zeleny, etc. As a result of Spanberg's work, the composition of the entire island ridge was revealed and mapped for the first time. The previously known extreme southern islands (“Company Land”, Island of “States”) were identified as components of the Kuril ridge.
For a long time before this, there was an idea of a certain large “Land of Gama” to the east of Asia. The legend of the hypothetical Land of Gama was forever dispelled.
During these same years, the Russians became acquainted with the small indigenous population of the islands - the Ainu. According to the largest Russian geographer of that time, S. Krasheninnikov, on the island. Syumusyu by the 40s of the 18th century. there were only 44 souls.
In 1750 he sailed to about. Shimusiru is the sergeant major of the First Nick Island. Storozhev. After 16 years (in 1766), foremen Nikita Chikin, Chuprov and centurion Iv. Black again tried to find out the number of all the islands and the population on them.
After the death of Chikin on the island. Simusiru I. Cherny spent the winter on this island. In 1767 he reached Fr. Etorof, and then settled on about. Uruppu. Returning to Kamchatka in the fall of 1769, Cherny reported that on 19 islands (including Etorofa) 83 “hairy” (Ainu) accepted Russian citizenship.
In their actions, Chikin and Cherny were obliged to follow the instructions of the Bolsheretsk Chancellery: “When traveling to distant islands and back... describe... their size, the width of the straits, what animals are on the islands, also rivers, lakes and fish in them. .. Inquire about gold and silver ores and pearls... insults, taxes, robbery... and other actions contrary to the decrees and do not show rudeness and prodigal violence, expecting the highest mercy and reward for jealousy.” After some time, the Tyumen merchant Yak. Nikonov, as well as sailors from the Protodyakonov trading company and other “explorers” brought more accurate news about the islands.
In order to firmly and finally secure the islands and develop them, the chief commander of Kamchatka, Bem, proposed building on the island. Strengthen Uruppu, create a Russian settlement there and develop the economy. To implement this proposal and develop trade with Japan, the Yakut merchant Lebedev-Lastochkin equipped an expedition in 1775 under the command of the Siberian nobleman Antipin. The expedition vessel "Nikolai" suffered an accident near the island. Uruppu. Two years later, to Antipin on the island. Uruppu was sent from Okhotsk by the ship "Natalia" under the command of navigator M. Petushkov.
After wintering on Uruppu, “Natalia” sailed to Akkesi Bay on the island. Hokkaido and met a Japanese ship here. By agreement with the Japanese, Antipin and the translator, the Irkutsk townsman Shabalin, appeared in 1779 with Lebedev-Lastochkin’s goods on the island. Hokkaido to Akkesi Bay. Strictly remembering the instructions Antipin received that “... having met the Japanese, act courteously, kindly, decently... find out what Russian goods they need and what kind of things they can get from them in return, set prices and whether they would like for mutual bargaining, to make an agreement on some island that would guide the future... to establish peaceful relations with the Japanese,” the merchants counted on trade that would be beneficial for both sides. But their hopes were not justified. In Akkesi they were given a ban on the Japanese not only from trading on the island. Hokkaido (Matsmai), but also sail to Etorofu and Kunashiri.
From that time on, the Japanese government began to oppose the Russians in every possible way in the southern islands. In 1786, it commissioned the official Mogami Tokunai to inspect the islands. Having discovered three Russians on Etorofu and interrogated them, Tokunai handed them the order: “Entering Japanese borders by foreign nationals is strictly prohibited. Therefore, I order you to return to your state as soon as possible.” The movement of Russian trading people to the south for peaceful purposes was interpreted by the Japanese in a completely different way.
Severo-Kurilsk city 
19th century
Representative of the Russian-American Company Nikolai Rezanov, who arrived in Nagasaki as the first Russian envoy, tried to resume negotiations on trade with Japan in 1805. But he too failed. However, Japanese officials, who were not satisfied with the despotic policy of the supreme power, hinted to him that it would be nice to carry out a forceful action in these lands, which could push the situation from a dead point. This was carried out on behalf of Rezanov in 1806-1807 by an expedition of two ships led by Lieutenant Khvostov and Midshipman Davydov. Ships were looted, a number of trading posts were destroyed, and a Japanese village on Iturup was burned. They were later tried, but the attack led to a serious deterioration in Russian-Japanese relations for some time. In particular, this was the reason for the arrest of Vasily Golovnin’s expedition.
The first delimitation of the possessions of Russia and Japan in the Kuril Islands was made in the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855.
In exchange for ownership of southern Sakhalin, Russia transferred all of the Kuril Islands to Japan in 1875.
XX century
After defeat in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Russia transferred the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan.
In February 1945, the Soviet Union promised the United States and Great Britain to start a war with Japan, subject to the return of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
February 2, 1946. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the formation in the territory of Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands of the South Sakhalin Region as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR.
November 5, 1952. A powerful tsunami hit the entire coast of the Kuril Islands, Paramushir was hit the hardest. A giant wave washed away the city of Severo-Kurilsk (formerly Kashiwabara). It was forbidden to mention this disaster in the press.
In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan adopted the Joint Treaty, officially ending the war between the two countries and handing over Habomai and Shikotan to Japan. However, it was not possible to sign the agreement, because according to it it turned out that Japan was renouncing the rights to Iturup and Kunashir, which is why the United States threatened not to give Japan the island of Okinawa.
Church of the Holy Trinity, Yuzhno-Kurilsk 
The problem of belonging
At the end of World War II in February 1945, at the Yalta Conference of the Heads of Power, countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition, an agreement was reached on the unconditional return of the southern part of Sakhalin and the transfer of the Kuril Islands to the Soviet Union after the victory over Japan.
On July 26, 1945, as part of the Potsdam Conference, the Potsdam Declaration was adopted, limiting the sovereignty of Japan to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. On August 8, the USSR joined the Potsdam Declaration. On August 14, Japan accepted the terms of the Declaration and on September 2, 1945, signed the Instrument of Surrender, confirming these terms. But these documents did not directly talk about the transfer of the Kuril Islands to the USSR.
From August 18 to September 1, 1945, Soviet troops carried out the Kuril landing operation and occupied, among other things, the southern Kuril Islands - Urup, Iturup, Kunashir and the Lesser Kuril Ridge.
In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of February 2, 1946, in these territories, after their exclusion from Japan by Memorandum No. 677 of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces of January 29, 1946, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was formed as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR, which on January 2 In 1947 it became part of the newly formed Sakhalin region as part of the RSFSR.
On September 8, 1951, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, according to which it renounced “all rights, title and claims to the Kuril Islands and to that part of Sakhalin Island and adjacent islands, sovereignty over which Japan acquired under the Treaty of Portsmouth of September 5, 1905 G." When discussing the San Francisco Treaty in the US Senate, a resolution was adopted containing the following clause: It is provided that the terms of the Treaty will not mean recognition for the USSR of any rights or claims to territories belonging to Japan on December 7, 1941, which caused would be detrimental to Japan's rights and title to these territories, nor would any provisions in favor of the USSR in relation to Japan contained in the Yalta Agreement be recognized. Due to serious claims to the draft treaty, representatives of the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia refused to sign it. The treaty was also not signed by Burma, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, India, the DPRK, the PRC and the MPR, which were not represented at the conference.
Japan makes territorial claims to the southern Kuril Islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai with a total area of 5175 km². These islands are called the Northern Territories in Japan. Japan justifies its claims with the following arguments:
According to Article 2 of the Shimoda Treaty of 1855, these islands were included in Japan and they are the original possession of Japan.
This group of islands, according to the official position of Japan, is not part of the Kuril chain (Chishima Islands) and, having signed the act of surrender and the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan did not abandon them.
The USSR did not sign the San Francisco Treaty.
However, the Shimoda Treaty is considered annulled due to the Russo-Japanese War (1905).
In 1956, the Moscow Declaration was signed, which ended the state of war and established diplomatic and consular relations between the USSR and Japan. Article 9 of the Declaration states, in particular:
The USSR, meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer of the Habomai Islands and the Shikotan Islands to Japan, however, that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will take place after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty.
On November 14, 2004, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan, stated that Russia, as a successor state of the USSR, recognizes the 1956 Declaration as existing and is ready to conduct territorial negotiations with Japan on its basis.
It is noteworthy that on November 1, 2010, Russian President D. A. Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the Kuril Islands. President Dmitry Medvedev emphasized then that “all islands of the Kuril chain are the territory of the Russian Federation. This is our land, and we must develop the Kuril Islands.” The Japanese side remained irreconcilable and called this visit regrettable, which in turn caused a response from the Russian Foreign Ministry, according to which there could be no changes in the ownership status of the Kuril Islands.
Some Russian official experts, in search of a solution that could satisfy both Japan and Russia, offer very unique options. Thus, Academician K.E. Chervenko in April 2012, in an article on the possibility of a final settlement of the territorial dispute between the Russian Federation and Japan, voiced an approach in which the countries participating in the San Francisco Treaty (states that have the right to determine the international legal status of South Sakhalin with the adjacent islands and all the Kuril Islands) recognize the Kuril Islands de facto territory of the Russian Federation, leaving Japan the right to consider them de jure (under the terms of the above-mentioned treaty) not included in Russia.
Cape Stolbchaty, Kunashir Island 
Population
The Kuril Islands are populated extremely unevenly. The population lives permanently only in Paramushir, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan. The other islands have no permanent population. At the beginning of 2010, there were 19 settlements: two cities (Severo-Kurilsk, Kurilsk), an urban-type settlement (Yuzhno-Kurilsk) and 16 villages.
The maximum population value was noted in 1989 and amounted to 29.5 thousand people. During Soviet times, the population of the islands was significantly higher due to high subsidies and a large number of military personnel. Thanks to the military, the islands of Shumshu, Onekotan, Simushir and others were populated.
As of 2010, the population of the islands is 18.7 thousand people, including 6.1 thousand people in the Kuril urban district (on the only inhabited island of Iturup, also includes Urup, Simushir, etc.); in the South Kuril urban district - 10.3 thousand people. (Kunashir, Shikotan and other islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge (Habomai)); in the North Kuril urban district - 2.4 thousand people (on the only inhabited island of Paramushir, also includes Shumshu, Onekotan, etc.).
Onekotan Island 
Economics and development
On August 3, 2006, at a meeting of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Federal Program for the Development of the Islands from 2007 to 2015 was approved, including 4 blocks: the development of transport infrastructure, the fish processing industry, social infrastructure and solving energy problems. The program provides:
The allocation of funds for this program is almost 18 billion rubles, that is, 2 billion rubles per year, which is equivalent to approximately 300 thousand rubles for each resident of the islands, which will increase the population from 19 to 30 thousand people.
Development of the fishing industry - currently there are only two fish factories on the islands, and both are state-owned. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation proposes to create 20 more new fish hatcheries to replenish biological resources. The federal program provides for the creation of the same number of private fish hatcheries and the reconstruction of one fish processing plant.
It is planned to build new kindergartens, schools, hospitals on the islands, develop a transport network, including the construction of a modern all-weather airport.
The problem of electricity shortage, which is four times more expensive in the Kuril Islands than in Sakhalin, is planned to be solved through the construction of power plants operating on geothermal sources, using the experience of Kamchatka and Japan.
In addition, in May 2011, the Russian authorities announced their intention to allocate an additional 16 billion rubles, thereby doubling the funding for the development program of the Kuril Islands.
In February 2011, it became known about plans to strengthen the defense of the Kuril Islands with an air defense brigade, as well as a mobile coastal missile system with Yakhont anti-ship missiles.
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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads.
Photo: Tatiana Selena, Victor Morozov, Andrey Kapustin, Artem Demin
The Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute of Geography RAS. Pacific Institute of Geography FEB RAS; Editorial Board: V. M. Kotlyakov (chairman), P. Ya. Baklanov, N. N. Komedchikov (chief editor), etc.; Rep. editor-cartographer E. Ya. Fedorova. Atlas of the Kuril Islands. - M.; Vladivostok: IPC "DIK", 2009. - 516 p.
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia for the Sakhalin Region. Report “On the state and protection of the environment of the Sakhalin region in 2002” (2003). Retrieved June 21, 2010. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.
Sakhalin region. Official website of the governor and government of the Sakhalin region. Retrieved June 21, 2010. Archived from the original on October 7, 2006.
Makeev B. “The Kuril problem: the military aspect.” World Economy and International Relations, 1993, No. 1, p. 54.
Wikipedia website.
Solovyov A.I. Kuril Islands / Glavsevmorput. — Ed. 2nd. - M.: Glavsevmorput Publishing House, 1947. - 308 p.
Atlas of the Kuril Islands / Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute of Geography RAS. Pacific Institute of Geography FEB RAS; Editorial Board: V. M. Kotlyakov (chairman), P. Ya. Baklanov, N. N. Komedchikov (chief editor), etc.; Rep. editor-cartographer E. Ya. Fedorova - M.; Vladivostok: IPC "DIK", 2009. - 516 p. — 300 copies. — ISBN 978-5-89658-034-8.
http://www.kurilstour.ru/islands.shtml
On the issue of Japan's claims to our Kuril Islands
Japanese politicians time after time “press the pedal”, initiating conversations with Moscow on the subject that, supposedly, “it’s time to return the Northern Territories to the Japanese masters.”
Previously, we did not particularly react to this hysteria from Tokyo, but now, it seems, we need to respond.
To begin with, a picture with text that represents better than any analytical articles Japan's real position at the time she was winner Russia. Now they are whining begging, but as soon as they feel their strength, they immediately begin to play “king of the hill”:
Japan took away a hundred years ago our Russian lands- half of Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands as a result of Russia’s defeat in the 1905 war. From those times, the famous song “On the Hills of Manchuria” remained, which in Russia still reminds of the bitterness of that defeat.
However, times have changed, and Japan itself has become defeatist in the Second World War, which personally started against China, Korea and other Asian countries. And, overestimating its strength, Japan even attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 - after which the United States entered the war against Japan and its ally Hitler. Yes Yes, Japan was Hitler's ally but somehow little is remembered about that today. Why? Who has become displeased with History in the West?
As a result of its own military disaster, Japan signed the "Act of unconditional surrender"(!), where in text It is clearly stated that “We hereby undertake that the Japanese Government and its successors will faithfully implement the terms and conditions.” Potsdam Declaration" And in that “ Potsdam Declaration» clarified that « Japanese sovereignty will be limited to the islands Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and those smaller islands that we will indicate" And where is " northern territories”, which the Japanese demand “back” from Moscow? In general, what territorial claims to Russia can be discussed in Japan, which deliberately committed aggression in alliance with Hitler?
– Having a purely negative attitude towards any transfer of any islands to Japan, it is still necessary to clarify for the sake of fairness: the tactics of recent years, which are perfectly clear to professionals, are as follows - do not outright deny what was promised by the previous authorities, talk only about fidelity to the Declaration of 1956, that is only about Habomai and Shikotan, thereby excluding from the problem Kunashir and Iturup, which appeared under pressure from Japan in the negotiations in the mid-90s, and, finally, to accompany the words about “loyalty” to the Declaration with such formulations that today do not coincide with the position of Japan.
– The declaration assumed first the conclusion of a peace treaty and only then the “transfer” of the two islands. The transfer is an act of good will, a willingness to dispose of one’s own territory “meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state.” Japan insists that the “return” precede the peace treaty, because the very concept of “return” is a recognition of the illegality of their belonging to the USSR, which is is a revision not only of the results of the Second World War, but also of the principle of the inviolability of these results.
– Satisfying Japanese claims to “return” the islands would mean directly undermining the principle of the non-dispute of the results of World War II and would open up the possibility of questioning other aspects of the territorial status quo.
– “Complete and unconditional surrender” of Japan is fundamentally different from simple surrender due to legal, political and historical consequences. A simple “surrender” means an admission of defeat in hostilities and does not affect the international legal personality of the defeated power, no matter what losses it may have suffered. Such a state retains its sovereignty and legal personality and itself, as a legal party, negotiates peace terms. “Complete and unconditional surrender” means the cessation of the existence of a subject of international relations, the dismantling of the former state as a political institution, the loss of sovereignty and all powers that pass to the victorious powers, which themselves determine the conditions of peace and the post-war order and settlement.
– In the case of “complete and unconditional surrender” with Japan, then Japan retained the former emperor, which is used to claim that Japan's legal personality was not interrupted. However, in reality, the source of maintaining imperial power is different - it is will and decision of the Winners.
– US Secretary of State J. Byrnes pointed out to V. Molotov: “Japan’s position does not stand up to criticism that it cannot consider itself bound by the Yalta agreements, since it was not a party to them.” Today's Japan is a post-war state, and a settlement can only come from the post-war international legal framework, especially since only this basis has legal force.
– The “Soviet-Japanese Declaration of October 19, 1956” recorded the USSR’s readiness to “transfer” the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan, but only after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty. It's about not about “return”, but about “transfer”, that is, the readiness to dispose as act of goodwill its territory, which does not create a precedent for revising the results of the war.
– The United States exerted direct pressure on Japan during the Soviet-Japanese negotiations in 1956 and did not stop before ultimatum: The United States stated that if Japan signs a “Peace Treaty” with the USSR, in which it agrees to recognize South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands as part of the territory of the USSR, " The United States will forever retain its possession of the Ryukyu Islands."(Okinawa).
– Signing of the “Soviet-Japanese Declaration”, according to the reckless plan of N. Khrushchev, was supposed to keep Japan from concluding a military cooperation agreement with the United States. However, such an agreement between Tokyo and Washington followed on January 19, 1960, and according to it it was enshrined unlimited presence of American armed forces on Japanese territory.
- On January 27, 1960, the Soviet government announced “a change in circumstances” and warned that “only subject to the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Japanese territory and the signing of a Peace Treaty between the USSR and Japan, the islands of Habomai and Shikotan will be transferred to Japan.”
Here are some thoughts about Japanese “wants”.
Kuril Islands: not four naked islands
IN Lately The “question” of the Southern Kuril Islands is being discussed again. The media of mass disinformation are fulfilling the task of the current government - to convince the people that we do not need these islands. The obvious is being hushed up: after the transfer of the Southern Kuril Islands to Japan, Russia will lose a third of its fish, our Pacific Fleet will be locked up and will not have free access to the Pacific Ocean, the entire border system in the east of the country will need to be reviewed, etc. I, a geologist who worked in the Far East, Sakhalin for 35 years, and who visited the South Kuril Islands more than once, am especially outraged by the lie about the “four bare islands” supposedly representing the South Kuril Islands.
Let's start with the fact that the Southern Kuril Islands are not 4 islands. They include Fr. Kunashir, O. Iturup And all islands of the Lesser Kuril ridge. The latter includes Fr. Shikotan(182 sq. km), o. Green(69 sq. km), o. Polonsky(15 sq. km), o. Tanfilyeva(8 sq. km), o. Yuri(7 sq. km), o. Anuchina(3 sq. km) and many smaller islands: o. Demina, O. Shards, O. Sentry, O. Signal and others. And to the island Shikotan usually include islands Griga And Aivazovsky. The total area of the islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge is about 300 square meters. km, and all the islands of the South Kuril Islands - more than 8500 sq. km. What the Japanese, and after them “our” democrats and some diplomats, call an island Habo mai, is about 20 islands.
The subsoil of the Southern Kuril Islands contains a large complex of minerals. Its leading elements are gold and silver, deposits of which have been explored on the island. Kunashir. Here, at the Prasolovskoye field, in some areas the content gold reaches a kilogram or more, silver– up to 5 kg per ton of rock. The predicted resources of the North Kunashir ore cluster alone are 475 tons of gold and 2160 tons of silver (these and many other figures are taken from the book “Mineral resource base of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands at the turn of the third millennium” published last year by the Sakhalin book publishing house). But, besides Fr. Kunashir, other islands of the Southern Kuril Islands are also promising for gold and silver.
In the same Kunashir, polymetallic ores are known (Valentinovskoye deposit), in which the content zinc reaches 14%, copper – up to 4%, gold– up to 2 g/t, silver– up to 200 g/t, barium– up to 30%, strontium- until 3 %. Reserves zinc amount to 18 thousand tons, copper– 5 thousand tons. On the islands of Kunashir and Iturup there are several ilmenite-magnetite placers with high content gland(up to 53%), titanium(up to 8%) and increased concentrations vanadium. Such raw materials are suitable for the production of high-grade vanadium cast iron. At the end of the 60s, Japan offered to buy Kuril ilmenite-magnetite sands. Is it because of the high vanadium content? But in those years, not everything was bought and sold; there were values more valuable than money, and transactions were not always accelerated by bribes.
Of particular note are the recently discovered rich ore accumulations in the Southern Kuril Islands. Rhenia, which is used for parts of supersonic aircraft and missiles, protects the metal from corrosion and wear. These ores are modern volcanic debris. The ore continues to accumulate. It is estimated that only one Kudryavy volcano on the island. Iturup carries out 2.3 tons of rhenium per year. In some places the ore content of this valuable metal reaches 200 g/t. Will we also give it to the Japanese?
Among non-metallic minerals, we will highlight deposits sulfur. Nowadays this raw material is one of the most scarce in our country. Deposits of volcanic sulfur have long been known in the Kuril Islands. The Japanese developed it in many places. Soviet geologists explored and prepared for development a large deposit of Novoe sulfur. In only one of its sections - Western - industrial reserves of sulfur amount to more than 5 million tons. On the islands of Iturup and Kunashir there are many smaller deposits that can attract entrepreneurs. In addition, some geologists consider the area of the Lesser Kuril Ridge to be promising for oil and gas.
In the Southern Kuril Islands there are very scarce in the country and very valuable thermomineral waters. The most famous of them are the Hot Beach springs, in which waters with a high content of silicic and boric acids have a temperature of up to 100 o C. There is a hydropathic clinic here. Similar waters are found in the North Mendeleev and Chaykin springs on the island. Kunashir, as well as in a number of places on the island. Iturup.
Who hasn’t heard about the thermal waters of the Southern Kuril Islands? In addition to being a tourist site, it is thermal energy raw materials, the importance of which has recently increased due to the ongoing energy crisis in the Far East and the Kuril Islands. While geothermal hydroelectric power station using underground heat, works only in Kamchatka. But it is possible and necessary to develop high-potential coolants - volcanoes and their derivatives - on the Kuril Islands. By now on about. In Kunashir, the Hot Beach steam hydrothermal deposit has been explored, which can provide heat and hot water to the city of Yuzhno-Kurilsk (partially the steam-water mixture is used to supply heat to a military unit and state farm greenhouses). On about. Iturup has explored a similar deposit – Okeanskoye.
It is also important that the Southern Kuril Islands are a unique testing ground for studying geological processes, volcanism, ore formation, studying giant waves (tsunamis), and seismicity. There is no other such scientific site in Russia. And science, as you know, is a productive force, the fundamental basis for the development of any society.
And how can one call the Southern Kuril Islands “bare islands” if they are covered with almost subtropical vegetation, where there are many medicinal herbs and berries (aralia, lemongrass, redberry), the rivers are rich red fish(chum salmon, pink salmon, masu salmon), fur seals, sea lions, seals, sea otters live on the coast, the shallow water is strewn with crabs, shrimp, sea cucumbers, and scallops?
Isn’t all of the above known in the government, in the Russian Embassy in Japan, and in “our” democrats? I think that discussions about the possibility of transferring the Southern Kuril Islands to Japan - not from stupidity, but from meanness. Some figures like Zhirinovsky propose to sell our islands to Japan and name specific amounts. Russia sold Alaska cheaply, also considering the peninsula “land of no use to anyone.” And now the United States gets a third of its oil, more than half of its gold, and much more from Alaska. So go cheap anyway, gentlemen!
How Russia and Japan will divide the Kuril Islands. We answer eight naive questions about the disputed islands
Moscow and Tokyo, perhaps closer than ever to solving the problem of the South Kuril Islands - this is what Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thinks. For his part, Vladimir Putin explained that Russia is ready to discuss this issue only on the basis of the Soviet-Japanese declaration of 1956 - according to it, the USSR agreed to hand over to Japan only two the smallest South Kuril Islands - Shikotan and I am coming Habomai. But he left behind large and inhabited islands Iturup And Kunashir.
Will Russia agree to the treaty and where did the “Kuril issue” come from? A senior researcher at the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences helped Komsomolskaya Pravda to figure out. Victor Kuzminkov.
1. Why do the Japanese even lay claim to the Kuril Islands? After all, they abandoned them after World War II?
– Indeed, in 1951 the San Francisco Peace Treaty was concluded, where it was stated that Japan refuses from all claims to the Kuril Islands, agrees Kuzminkov. - But a few years later, in order to get around this point, the Japanese began to call the four islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai - northern territories and deny that they belong to the Kuril ridge (and, on the contrary, they belong to the island of Hokkaido). Although on pre-war Japanese maps they were designated precisely as the Southern Kuril Islands.
2. Still, how many disputed islands are there – two or four?
– Now Japan lays claim to all four of the above-mentioned islands; in 1855, the border between Russia and Japan passed along them. But immediately after World War II - both in San Francisco in 1951 and in 1956 at the signing of the Soviet-Japanese Declaration - Japan disputed only Shikotan and Habomai. At that time, they recognized Iturup and Kunashir as the Southern Kuriles. It is precisely about returning to the positions of the 1956 declaration that Putin and Abe are now talking about.
“Joint farming in the Kuril Islands was discussed, but I believe that this is a stillborn project,” the expert commented. – Japan will demand preferences that will call into question Russia’s sovereignty in these territories.
Likewise, the Japanese are not ready to agree to lease the islands from Russia (this idea has also been voiced) - they consider the northern territories to be their ancestral land.
In my opinion, the only real option today is to sign a peace treaty, which means little for both countries. And the subsequent creation of a border delimitation commission, which will sit for at least 100 years, but will not come to any decision.
HELP "KP"
The total population of the South Kuril Islands is about 17 thousand people.
Island group Habomai(more than 10 islands) – uninhabited.
On the island Shikotan– 2 villages: Malokurilskoye and Krabozavodskoye. There is a cannery. During the Soviet years it was one of the largest in the USSR. But now little remains of its former power.
On the island Iturup– the city of Kurilsk (1600 people) and 7 villages. In 2014, the Iturup International Airport was opened here.
On the island Kunashir– the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk (7,700 people) and 6 smaller villages. There is a geothermal power plant and more than a hundred military installations here.
