Japan protests Russia's deployment of aircraft south of Kuril Islands

Russian SU-35 fighter jet. Photo: Sputnik

According to local media, the crews of the Russian Su-35S multi-purpose fighter arrived at Yasny airport to carry out a test mission.

Mr. Suga said that Japan strongly protests this and has submitted a statement of protest to the Russian Foreign Ministry through the Embassy in Moscow on August 3.

Russia and Japan have a long-standing dispute over the Pacific islands, which Russia calls the Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories, that has prevented a peace treaty between the two countries since the end of World War II.

The Kuril Islands, located in Russia's Sakhalin region, form a volcanic island sea that stretches 1,300 km from Hokkaidō, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, dividing the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean.

There are 56 islands in this archipelago and many other smaller rocks. The total area of ​​the island is 15,600 km2 and the population is 19,000 people.

Russia claims all the islands as Russian territory, but Japan claims the four southernmost islands as its own, leading to a long-standing dispute between the two countries.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Japan occupied the coast of Kamchatka but was later repelled by Russian forces. After the war ended, Russia allowed Japan to fish in these waters under the Russo-Japanese Fishing Agreement, which lasted until 1945.

After World War II ended in 1945, the Soviet army maintained control of the entire Kuril Islands, but Japan still claimed ownership of the four southernmost islands: Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan, and Habomai - collectively known as the Northern Territories.