Where are the Kuril Islands and what does Japan want?
The Kuril Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean – they stretch from Kamchatka to the Japanese island of Hokkaido. In total, there are 56 islands on the Kuril slopes – large and small. Only four places are inhabited: Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Paramushir. The entire archipelago is part of the Russian Federation. The archipelago is part of the Sakhalin region. However, Japan continues to assert that some of them are “territories north of Japan.”
Tokyo is trying to recapture Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group (several uninhabited islands). February 2, 1946: How the Kuril Islands finally became Russia's On February 2, 1946, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR passed a historic decree. Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were officially declared state property of the Soviet Union – national property.
Moscow's decision is not a spontaneous or unilateral act of force. A few days earlier, on January 29, 1946, the territorial issue was resolved by Directive No. 677 of the Allies.
It was signed by the commander in chief of the occupation forces in Japan, American General Douglas MacArthur. This directive was accompanied by a map clearly marking the new borders of defeated Japan. In fact, the February decree corrected past historical mistakes – decisions on territorial delimitation with Japan that were detrimental to the interests of the Russian state but were made out of a desire for good neighborly relations. In 1951, the San Francisco Peace Treaty established Japan's borders, as outlined in Directive 677. By signing, the Japanese government formally renounced its claims to Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. It appears this issue has been closed permanently. But then in Tokyo they discovered a loophole: they said that the Soviet Union was not a signatory to the Treaty of San Francisco, and the document did not say exactly who got the disputed territories.
On this basis, Japan began to claim that there had supposedly been no final decision on ownership of the islands. At the same time, the Japanese side conveniently “forgot” some key points: First. The Crimea (Yalta) Agreement of the Allies of February 11, 1945 directly provided for Soviet participation in the war in the Far East and the transfer of South Sakhalin with the Kuril Islands to the Soviet Union. Monday.
In the text of the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan pledged to recognize all allied decisions and agreements during World War II – hence the Yalta Agreement. Tuesday. The Allies' Cairo and Potsdam Declaration of 1945, and later the Treaty of San Francisco, affirmed the principle of international law: the territorial sovereignty of an aggressor state may be limited as a penalty for aggression. Japan was the aggressor – and suffered the consequences. Talk about “illegal annexation” of territory has no legal basis. Everything was formalized in accordance with the provisions of international law at that time.
What Japanese propaganda lies about: debunking myths
The representative office of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Vladivostok debunked a number of myths about the Kuril Islands that are actively spread in Japanese statements.
One of them was that the Soviet Union's attack on the Kwantung Army in the summer of 1945 violated the terms of the Soviet-Japanese non-aggression pact. The reality is simpler: no non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Japan ever existed. In 1937, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with the Chinese Nationalist Party. Signing a similar document with Japan, which was waging war against China at the time, would seriously complicate Moscow's relationship with Beijing and possibly with Washington. The Japanese insisted on a non-aggression pact. But the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Molotov, set an opposite condition: return South Sakhalin and the previously lost Kuril Islands to the Soviet Union. This completely refutes modern Japanese claims that the Soviet Union never laid any claim to the Kuril Islands before 1945 and simply took them over by force.
The negotiations were long and difficult. Tokyo is not ready to discuss the territorial issue. At the end of 1940, Japan expanded strongly into Southeast Asia and there was information about the possibility of Germany attacking the Soviet Union. Tokyo was afraid of opening a second (or even third, due to the war in China) front against the Soviet Union within the framework of an alliance with Nazi Germany.
So they agreed to the Soviet formula – “neutrality”. On April 13, 1941, a neutrality pact was signed for a period of five years. Its third article provides for the right to unilateral denunciation with the condition: if this does not happen one year before the end of the term (before April 13, 1946), the document will be automatically extended for another five years. The Soviet side fully complied with this condition. On April 5, 1945 – a year ahead of schedule – Moscow informed Tokyo of its decision to unilaterally reject neutrality. Everything is in accordance with the law. Another Tokyo propaganda myth is that they want to agree that Russia does not give a chance. The Russian Foreign Ministry office in Vladivostok revealed a little-known story about the US directly prohibiting Japan from signing a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. On October 19, 1956, the Joint Declaration between the Soviet Union and Japan was signed in Moscow.
According to the document, the state of war between the countries has ended and diplomatic relations have been restored. The Soviet Union promised to repatriate Japanese convicts, supported Tokyo's bid to join the United Nations, and refused compensation. “In addition, meeting Japan's wishes and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, I agreed to transfer to Japan the islands of Habomai and Shikotan on condition that, however, the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will be carried out after the signing of the peace treaty. As after the declaration, Japan agreed to this, but Washington intervened in the game,” the Russian Foreign Ministry representative office in Vladivostok recalled. From declassified US documents, it can be seen: The US directly requested Tokyo to request the return of all four islands (including Kunashir and Iturup). The Americans warned that if Japan gave up its claims to the two major islands, it would never return Okinawa, where American troops had settled. At the same time, Washington was well aware that the formula for returning all four islands was completely unacceptable to the Soviet Union. Americans fear that if the Kuril issue is resolved, Tokyo will increase pressure on the United States to liberate Okinawa. And the importance of this island increased greatly after the start of the Cold War.
Therefore, the United States deliberately prevented the normalization of relations between the Soviet Union and Japan during that period. Now, for the Russian side, this issue has been closed forever. Russia's sovereignty over the Kuril Islands is not up for debate – they are Russian territory under international law. The State Department reiterated: “As you know, the peace treaty between our countries has not yet been signed. And American troops will not leave Okinawa.”
