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| Image: Wiki Commons |
By Catherine Putz
Moscow’s push to speed up development of the islands is, in part, a jab at Tokyo over Abe’s visit to Ukraine.
Monday, while visiting Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered an acceleration of military and civilian infrastructure construction on the disputed Kuril Islands. While the defense ministry didn’t offer many details of his orders, it isn’t difficult to connect the announcement–guaranteed to annoy Japan, which disputes Russian sovereignty of the islands–to the recent visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Ukraine. While in Ukraine, Abe declared his support for President Petro Poroshenko.
This isn’t the first time Ukraine has come up as a point of tension between Russia and Japan, nor the first time Moscow has used the islands to irritate Tokyo. Last summer, after Japan joined Western nations in imposing sanctions on Russia, Russia held military drills in the Kurils.
The Kurils, as they are called in Russia, are known as the Northern Territories in Japan and stretch about 810 miles northeast from the island of Hokkaido to Russia’s Kamchatka. To the west of the islands lies the Sea of Okhotsk and to the east, the northern Pacific. The two southernmost islands–Kunashir (known in Japanese as Kunashiri) and Iturup (Etorofu)–and two sets of islets–Shikotan and the Habomai islands–have been the focus of a dispute between Russia and Japan for more than 60 years.
Both Russia and Japan bring treaties to the table to support their claims for sovereignty.
Read the full story at The Diplomat