By Zachary Keck
Russia’s military drills on the disputed islands are almost certainly in response to Japan’s sanctions over the Ukraine.
Russia is conducting military drills on the Kuril Islands, according to Russian media outlets.
“Exercises began involving military units in the region, which have been deployed to the Kuril Islands,” Interfax quoted Colonel Alexander Gordeyev, a spokesman for Russia’s Eastern Military District, as saying.
He went on to say that over a 1,000 troops, five Mi-8AMTSh attack helicopters and 100 other pieces of military hardware were participating in the exercise.
The Kuril Islands are administered by Russia but also claimed by Japan, which calls them the Northern Territories. The territorial dispute over the islands is the reason why Japan and Russia technically remain at war dating back to WWII. The dispute over the islands actually goes back much further than that, however. As J. Berkshire Miller has explained on The Diplomat:
“Tokyo claims that the sovereignty of the Northern Territories (referred to as Southern Kurils by Russia) has never been debatable and that the four disputed islands have been part of Japan since the early 19th century. This is confirmed, according to Japan, by— among other treaties— the Shimoda Treaty of 1855 and the Portsmouth Treaty of 1905 at the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese war. For its part, Russia pays little heed to Japan’s claims on the islands, instead pointing to a number of international treaties—including the Yalta Agreement (1945) and Potsdam Declaration (1945)— as proof of its sovereignty.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat