MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s far-eastern Kuril islands for the first time on Thursday, prompting protests by Japan which also claims the territory.

Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. The Kremlin posted a video of Putin on one of the four main islands, with Russian media saying he visited a fish-processing plant and showing him trying local caviar.

It was the first visit by a Russian president since Dmitry Medvedev in 2010. “The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan’s territory, both historically and under international law,” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters.

Putin’s visit “offends the sentiments of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable,” she said, adding that it “made it more difficult to restore relations in the medium to long term.” Putin travelled to the Kuril Islands after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin on Wednesday, where Russia’s navy was conducting drills.

Putin, 73, held a meeting “on ensuring the security of Russia’s eastern borders” while in Sakhalin, state media reported. After the visit to the Kuril Islands, Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi summoned Russian ambassador to Japan Nikolai Nozdrev to lodge a “strong protest” against Putin’s surprise move.

Motegi told the ambassador in the meeting that Putin’s visit would “have an extremely negative impact on Japan-Russia relations” already complicated by Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine, according to the ministry’s statement. Russia’s embassy in Japan said the ambassador had said the islands were “an integral part of the Russian Federation,” that their “status is not subject to doubt” and that Putin’s travel there was not “a matter for discussion with foreign states”.

A spokeswoman for the United Nations’ Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Shirin Yaseen, said “this is a bilateral issue between member states.” “We encourage all concerned to exercise restraint, to act responsibly, and to avoid any actions that may escalate tensions further,” she added.

Ukraine sanctions

Ties between Japan and Russia have worsened since the full-scale conflict in Ukraine began in 2022. Japan has joined other G7 countries in sanctioning Russia and giving money and non-lethal defence aid to Kyiv. Putin on Wednesday called Japan’s sanctions “unprovoked”.

“Japan has identified Russia as a main source of threats. I would like to point out that we are not threatening Japan... On the contrary it has territorial claims against our country,” Putin said. Russia and China have also moved closer, with their navies and air forces conducting joint exercises in areas around Japan, prompting frequent scrambles by Japanese jets.

North Korea, which this month termed Japan’s military build-up a “transformation into a war state”, has also sent troops and artillery shells to help Russia’s war against Ukraine. Japan’s latest defence white paper issued this month again highlighted growing risks from all three countries. The New York Times reported in July that Russia had turned Japan into a “den of spies” and a key source of dual-use technology needed for its war in Ukraine.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2026