Those who question Kuril Islands’s belonging to face dire consequences — Medvedev

Japan can declare the Kuril Islands its territory as much as it likes; this idle talk will change nothing, and anyone who fails to understand this will face dire consequences, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in a statement on his English-language X page.

Commenting on Tokyo’s protests and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s statements over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first-ever visit to Iturup in the Sakhalin Region, the security official said: "Japan’s Prime Minister [Sanae] Takaichi can prattle on all she likes about the Kuril Islands being ‘historically Japanese,’ but this chatter won’t change a thing. They were, are, and will remain Russian land. Anyone who fails to understand this will face the monstrous consequences of their delusion."

On August 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup in person for the first time. Prior to that, Medvedev himself had traveled to the Kuril Islands as head of state in 2010. He also visited the islands in 2012, 2015, and 2019 as prime minister. In 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iturup.

Moscow and Tokyo have been in negotiations on a peace treaty based on the outcome of World War II since the mid-20th century. The main obstacle to such an accord remains the disagreement over rights to the southern part of the Kuril Islands. After the war, the entire archipelago was incorporated into the Soviet Union, but Japan disputes the ownership of the islands of Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan, as well as several small uninhabited islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that Russia’s sovereignty over these islands is based on a firm legal foundation and is indisputable.