The Russia–Japan Kuril Islands Dispute

The story so far

As of August 13, 2026

A decades-long sovereignty dispute pits Russia and Japan over the four southern Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories. Moscow has administered Etorofu/Iturup, Kunashiri/Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai islets since the end of World War II; Tokyo says they are its inherent territory. The standoff blocks a formal peace treaty from that war and touches security in the North Pacific, access to fisheries and resources, and the U.S.–Japan alliance balance.

The Soviet Union seized the islands in 1945; Japan renounced claims to the Kuril chain in the 1951 San Francisco Treaty, which the USSR did not sign. A 1956 Soviet–Japanese declaration ended the state of war and held out the transfer of Shikotan and Habomai after a peace treaty, but no treaty followed and positions hardened. A late-2010s burst of Abe–Putin diplomacy faded, and after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow froze peace talks, expanded military deployments on Etorofu/Iturup and Kunashiri/Kunashir, and ended visa-free exchanges, while Japan joined sanctions and stepped up patrols.

In that strained context, Vladimir Putin visited the Kuril Islands for the first time on August 13, 2026, underscoring Russia’s administration of the territory. Japan protested the trip and reiterated that the four islands are Japanese territory, while Russia framed the visit as a domestic matter tied to regional development. The episode marks a further turn from tentative compromise toward symbolic assertions of control.

What remains contested is fundamental: Japan argues the four islands were never part of the Kuril chain it renounced in 1951 and should be returned, while Russia says its sovereignty was settled by the postwar outcome and is not up for negotiation. The status of the 1956 pledge to transfer Shikotan and Habomai after a treaty is also disputed, with Moscow treating it as moot and Tokyo viewing it as a baseline. With talks frozen, fisheries access, airspace and maritime intercepts, and military exercises around the islands are the pressure points most likely to generate incidents.