Japan officially declares Southern Kuril Island Chain as Russian occupied territories

[Fleetinglife]

amid Ukraine war. 

"Southern Kurils occupied by Russia, Japanese Foreign Ministry official claims

The Japanese authorities have been refraining from the term "occupation" in the recent years, instead preferring to say that "these islands are covered by the Japanese sovereignty"

TOKYO, February 28. /TASS/. Russia occupied the southern part of the Kuril Islands, which contradicts the international law, as well as the invasion of Ukraine, Japanese Foreign Ministry Europe Department Director Hideki Uyama said during debates in the parliament Monday.

"The Northern Territories [Japanese name for the Southern Kurils - TASS] are occupied by Russia, and we believe that this contradicts the international law, as well as the ongoing attack of the Russian army on Ukraine," the official said.

The Japanese authorities have been refraining from the term "occupation" in the recent years, instead preferring to say that "these islands are covered by the Japanese sovereignty."

Moscow and Tokyo have been engaging in talks on development of the World War II peace treaty since mid-20th century. The sovereignty of the Southern Kuril Islands remains the main obstacle. After the war, the entire archipelago became a part of the Soviet Union, but Japan challenges the sovereignty of the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of smaller uninhabited islands. Russian Foreign Ministry repeatedly stated that the sovereignty of these islands is cemented in international documents and cannot be challenged."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/tass.com/politics/1412893/amp

"TOKYO -- Russia's invasion of Ukraine has produced a noticeable shift in Japan's diplomatic effort to reclaim Russian-controlled islands lost in the waning days of World War II.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government has reverted to long-standing basic principles on the Northern Territories, dropping the nuanced language used by predecessor Shinzo Abe, who had tried to speed up negotiations on a diplomatic solution with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

With progress toward a postwar peace treaty now looking unlikely, Kishida's government has brought back the descriptions of the islands as "inherent territories of Japan" that have been "under illegal occupation" by Russia. The islands form the southernmost end of the Kuril archipelago.

Kishida discussed the Ukraine situation with Abe in a 20-minute meeting Wednesday, later telling reporters that he had "received advice on diplomacy and national security" from his predecessor.

The Japanese government had used "inherent territories" for many years, until around 2018, when the Abe government began calling them "islands over which Japan has sovereignty," and saying that Russia's occupation was "without legal grounds" rather than "illegal."

When Abe met with Putin in Singapore that year, the two sides affirmed they would accelerate talks toward a treaty based on a 1956 joint declaration between Japan and the Soviet Union. This declaration stipulated that Moscow would "transfer" two of the four disputed islands, Shikotan and the Habomai islets, to Japan once a treaty was concluded.

The Soviet Union occupied the islands in 1945 after renouncing a neutrality pact with Japan. Moscow holds that the occupation is a legitimate result of the war, and that it is offering to hand over two of the islands in good faith.

Asked in parliament in 2019 whether it considered the islands an inherent part of Japan's territory, the Abe government declined to respond, on the grounds that it could hinder negotiations with Russia.

Senior government officials said the flip-flop in rhetoric owes to bureaucrats from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry who pushed ahead with negotiations with no regard for diplomatic consistency.

Kishida said on Monday that he has "no memory" of differentiating between the "inherent territories" and "sovereignty" language.

Asked about not using "inherent territories," Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Tuesday, "I used the 'islands over which Japan has sovereignty' expression from a diplomatic standpoint."

The decision to make the change now was "based on the fact that we're not in a position to talk about the prospect of peace treaty negotiations," he said.

On the return to the "illegal occupation" language that the government had previously avoided, Hayashi said that "the occupation of the Northern Territories is illegal in the sense that it lacks any legal basis."

Soon after taking office in October, Kishida had intended to follow Abe's strategy, pursuing greater economic cooperation with Russia to build rapport for peace treaty negotiations.

After an October call with Putin, Kishida said they had agreed to "firmly work on the peace treaty negotiations" based on past agreements, including the 2018 accord in Singapore.

But the situation has changed dramatically since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. With the U.S. and the European Union imposing sanctions on Russia, it became increasingly difficult for Tokyo to maintain a business-as-usual relationship with Moscow.

"I cannot speak on the outlook of peace treaty negotiations with Russia at this time," Kishida told reporters on March 3.

Japan has joined the push to exclude certain banks from the SWIFT international payment network, signaling its opposition to unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force.

Some lawmakers from Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party as well as the opposition also want to scrap a cabinet position created in 2016 to oversee economic cooperation with Russia.

In a document approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, the government said it would not immediately eliminate the position, and will instead consider how to best demonstrate its stance to the rest of the world."

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/After-Ukraine-Japan-reverts-to-old-line-on-Russian-controlled-islands

The problem with all this rhetoric and shifting of official stances is that Russia has on the largest one (russ. Iturup, jap. Etorofu), of the southern Kuril four island chain claimed by Japan historically, in recent years, since 2014 especially, worked on building dual purpose (military) airfields, which it uses to station from time to time in their hangars the latest stealth fighter generations of SU-35 jets and has also  hypersonic missiles and combat system installments of the Sarmat type as well. 

In other words they have been used and repurposed as prime Russian military real estate and strategic possession for power projection and extension in the Far East. 

Russia can sink Japan?

"Chinese experts from Bai jia hao portal prepared material in which they discussed the hypothetical possibility of a military conflict between Russia and Japan.

SOURCE: SPUTNIKMONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2021 | 16:50

As they say, that is the last, but still possible option, because the relations between the two countries have worsened since Japan got a new prime minister.

The article states that Russia could use the new "Sarmat" combat system in the conflict, which is known in the West as "Satan 2".

The flight range of the missiles of that system is 16.000 kilometers. "Russia's Avangard strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) have terrifying power," the Chinese portal writes.

The authors of the article described in four words the consequences of "Russia's attack on Japanese territory": "Japan will end up under water". They add that Tokyo should not count on the help of the American missile defense system. Earlier, the new Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, stated that Tokyo's sovereignty extends to the southern Kuril Islands.

In that regard, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia does not agree with the statement of the new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the topic of the Kuril Islands, because those islands are the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Kuril Islands dispute, known as the Northern Territories dispute in Japan or the current border contestation between Japan and the Russian federation concerns the rightful ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai Islets. These four islands are the southernmost part of the Kuril Island Chain, which stretches northeast from Hokkaido, Japan to Kamchatka, Russia.

Japan claims ownership by Japan on these islands, referring to the bilateral Treaty on Trade and Borders from 1855.

Tokyo set the return of those islands as a condition for concluding a peace agreement with the Russian Federation, which was not signed after the Second World War.

The Soviet Union and Japan signed a Joint Declaration in 1956, in which Moscow agreed to consider handing over the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan after the conclusion of the peace agreement, and the fate of Kunashir and Iturup was not mentioned.

Moscow's position is based on the fact that the South Kuril Islands became part of the Soviet Union after the Second World War and that Russia's sovereignty over them, which has the appropriate international legal basis, is not in question.

After the meeting of the leaders of Russia and Japan in Singapore on November 14, 2018, the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that the parties agreed to speed up the process of negotiating a peace agreement based on the 1956 Joint Soviet-Japanese Declaration."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.b92.net/eng/news/world.php%3fyyyy=2021&mm=10&dd=25&nav_id=112073&version=amp

Edited April 2, 2022 by Fleetinglife

[vizual]

Just waiting for the Russian apologists to come in and make this NATO's fault somehow 

[Danioover9000]

@Fleetinglife

4 hours ago, Fleetinglife said:

amid Ukraine war. 

"Southern Kurils occupied by Russia, Japanese Foreign Ministry official claims

The Japanese authorities have been refraining from the term "occupation" in the recent years, instead preferring to say that "these islands are covered by the Japanese sovereignty"

TOKYO, February 28. /TASS/. Russia occupied the southern part of the Kuril Islands, which contradicts the international law, as well as the invasion of Ukraine, Japanese Foreign Ministry Europe Department Director Hideki Uyama said during debates in the parliament Monday.

"The Northern Territories [Japanese name for the Southern Kurils - TASS] are occupied by Russia, and we believe that this contradicts the international law, as well as the ongoing attack of the Russian army on Ukraine," the official said.

The Japanese authorities have been refraining from the term "occupation" in the recent years, instead preferring to say that "these islands are covered by the Japanese sovereignty."

Moscow and Tokyo have been engaging in talks on development of the World War II peace treaty since mid-20th century. The sovereignty of the Southern Kuril Islands remains the main obstacle. After the war, the entire archipelago became a part of the Soviet Union, but Japan challenges the sovereignty of the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of smaller uninhabited islands. Russian Foreign Ministry repeatedly stated that the sovereignty of these islands is cemented in international documents and cannot be challenged."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/tass.com/politics/1412893/amp

"TOKYO -- Russia's invasion of Ukraine has produced a noticeable shift in Japan's diplomatic effort to reclaim Russian-controlled islands lost in the waning days of World War II.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government has reverted to long-standing basic principles on the Northern Territories, dropping the nuanced language used by predecessor Shinzo Abe, who had tried to speed up negotiations on a diplomatic solution with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

With progress toward a postwar peace treaty now looking unlikely, Kishida's government has brought back the descriptions of the islands as "inherent territories of Japan" that have been "under illegal occupation" by Russia. The islands form the southernmost end of the Kuril archipelago.

Kishida discussed the Ukraine situation with Abe in a 20-minute meeting Wednesday, later telling reporters that he had "received advice on diplomacy and national security" from his predecessor.

The Japanese government had used "inherent territories" for many years, until around 2018, when the Abe government began calling them "islands over which Japan has sovereignty," and saying that Russia's occupation was "without legal grounds" rather than "illegal."

When Abe met with Putin in Singapore that year, the two sides affirmed they would accelerate talks toward a treaty based on a 1956 joint declaration between Japan and the Soviet Union. This declaration stipulated that Moscow would "transfer" two of the four disputed islands, Shikotan and the Habomai islets, to Japan once a treaty was concluded.

The Soviet Union occupied the islands in 1945 after renouncing a neutrality pact with Japan. Moscow holds that the occupation is a legitimate result of the war, and that it is offering to hand over two of the islands in good faith.

Asked in parliament in 2019 whether it considered the islands an inherent part of Japan's territory, the Abe government declined to respond, on the grounds that it could hinder negotiations with Russia.

Senior government officials said the flip-flop in rhetoric owes to bureaucrats from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry who pushed ahead with negotiations with no regard for diplomatic consistency.

Kishida said on Monday that he has "no memory" of differentiating between the "inherent territories" and "sovereignty" language.

Asked about not using "inherent territories," Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Tuesday, "I used the 'islands over which Japan has sovereignty' expression from a diplomatic standpoint."

The decision to make the change now was "based on the fact that we're not in a position to talk about the prospect of peace treaty negotiations," he said.

On the return to the "illegal occupation" language that the government had previously avoided, Hayashi said that "the occupation of the Northern Territories is illegal in the sense that it lacks any legal basis."

Soon after taking office in October, Kishida had intended to follow Abe's strategy, pursuing greater economic cooperation with Russia to build rapport for peace treaty negotiations.

After an October call with Putin, Kishida said they had agreed to "firmly work on the peace treaty negotiations" based on past agreements, including the 2018 accord in Singapore.

But the situation has changed dramatically since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. With the U.S. and the European Union imposing sanctions on Russia, it became increasingly difficult for Tokyo to maintain a business-as-usual relationship with Moscow.

"I cannot speak on the outlook of peace treaty negotiations with Russia at this time," Kishida told reporters on March 3.

Japan has joined the push to exclude certain banks from the SWIFT international payment network, signaling its opposition to unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force.

Some lawmakers from Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party as well as the opposition also want to scrap a cabinet position created in 2016 to oversee economic cooperation with Russia.

In a document approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, the government said it would not immediately eliminate the position, and will instead consider how to best demonstrate its stance to the rest of the world."

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/After-Ukraine-Japan-reverts-to-old-line-on-Russian-controlled-islands

The problem with all this rhetoric and shifting of official stances is that Russia has on the largest one (russ. Iturup, jap. Etorofu), of the southern Kuril four island chain claimed by Japan historically, in recent years, since 2014 especially, worked on building dual purpose (military) airfields, which it uses to station from time to time in their hangars the latest stealth fighter generations of SU-35 jets and has also  hypersonic missiles and combat system installments of the Sarmat type as well. 

In other words they have been used and repurposed as prime Russian military real estate and strategic possession for power projection and extension in the Far East. 

Russia can sink Japan?

"Chinese experts from Bai jia hao portal prepared material in which they discussed the hypothetical possibility of a military conflict between Russia and Japan.

SOURCE: SPUTNIKMONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2021 | 16:50

As they say, that is the last, but still possible option, because the relations between the two countries have worsened since Japan got a new prime minister.

The article states that Russia could use the new "Sarmat" combat system in the conflict, which is known in the West as "Satan 2".

The flight range of the missiles of that system is 16.000 kilometers. "Russia's Avangard strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) have terrifying power," the Chinese portal writes.

The authors of the article described in four words the consequences of "Russia's attack on Japanese territory": "Japan will end up under water". They add that Tokyo should not count on the help of the American missile defense system. Earlier, the new Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, stated that Tokyo's sovereignty extends to the southern Kuril Islands.

In that regard, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia does not agree with the statement of the new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the topic of the Kuril Islands, because those islands are the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Kuril Islands dispute, known as the Northern Territories dispute in Japan or the current border contestation between Japan and the Russian federation concerns the rightful ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai Islets. These four islands are the southernmost part of the Kuril Island Chain, which stretches northeast from Hokkaido, Japan to Kamchatka, Russia.

Japan claims ownership by Japan on these islands, referring to the bilateral Treaty on Trade and Borders from 1855.

Tokyo set the return of those islands as a condition for concluding a peace agreement with the Russian Federation, which was not signed after the Second World War.

The Soviet Union and Japan signed a Joint Declaration in 1956, in which Moscow agreed to consider handing over the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan after the conclusion of the peace agreement, and the fate of Kunashir and Iturup was not mentioned.

Moscow's position is based on the fact that the South Kuril Islands became part of the Soviet Union after the Second World War and that Russia's sovereignty over them, which has the appropriate international legal basis, is not in question.

After the meeting of the leaders of Russia and Japan in Singapore on November 14, 2018, the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that the parties agreed to speed up the process of negotiating a peace agreement based on the 1956 Joint Soviet-Japanese Declaration."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.b92.net/eng/news/world.php%3fyyyy=2021&mm=10&dd=25&nav_id=112073&version=amp

   How important are those Islands to Russia anyway?

[Ulax]

@vizual lol

[itachi uchiha]

saudi is making plans to trade in yuan. russia is accepting money in rubles. usa will try everything to stop collapse of petro dollar. expect all kinds of shit shown in next months

[Fleetinglife]

On 02/04/2022 at 7:47 PM, Danioover9000 said:

@Fleetinglife

   How important are those Islands to Russia anyway?

Well as I mentioned above they  have airfields with their latest generation stealth fighters currently in their hangars already there on the largest of the disputed/claimed southern islands Iturup/Etorofu and combat hypersonic missile systems installed/or currently stationed there to project power and influence in the near abroad in these close internationally militarily and international economic trade flow highly dense concentrated and inflection point maritime and island archipelago areas. 

I will give you an attempt of a semi-equivalent analogy (made even more prescient given the fact that all this is happening almost identically close to the 40th anniversary of the attempt of cementing the Malvinas and Falklands status by war): It's probably slightly less important to the Russians than the Malvinas are to the British (i.e. eng. Falklands) are to the British as an imperial era relic, tool of national consolidation past glory pride, means of abroad, from mainland islands directed, settler control, furthering the British EEZ zone at the expense of Argentina, naval military base, and checkpoint refueling station under their control for staging Antarctica expeditions and their transatlantic connecting tissue point for furthering their exclusive economic claims and control and influence for some newly discovered resources in the Antarctica South Pole region of the globe as the Argentinian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation explains in this article written for this anti-colonial African based paper illuminating the issue of the current Malvinas status:

https://kawsachunnews.com/malvinas-40-years-its-time-to-end-colonialism

"The permanent increase of the military presence and the refusal during these four decades of the United Kingdom to resume the dialogue for sovereignty in the terms proposed by the United Nations in its resolution 2065 (XX), show the illegality and illegitimacy of the usurpation that took place in 1833 and reveal the economic, geopolitical and military interests that drive the British to try to perpetuate the usurpation of an important portion of the Argentine territory. It should be noted that, after the 1982 war, on November 4 of the same year, the UN General Assembly approved Resolution 37/9 which stated: “the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are urged to resume negotiations in order to find a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas Islands as soon as possible”. At the same time, it instructed the Secretary General to initiate a new good offices effort to comply with this resolution.

The current global situation, marked by the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, once again showed the double standard with which the United Kingdom conceives its international policy. On the one hand, it condemns the rupture of the territorial integrity of Ukraine by Russia and, on the other hand, it maintains the occupation of a vast territory in the South Atlantic that prevents our country from exercising its sovereignty over its entire extension. This is not the only case. The United Kingdom is the administering power in 10 of the 17 colonial situations pending before the United Nations Decolonization Committee.

After its independence from Spain, Argentina exercised full sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands. On January 3, 1833, the United Kingdom, in full colonial expansion, violently evicted the representatives of the Argentine government and its settlers and established another population, coming from the metropolis itself.

It should be noted that from the very moment of their usurpation, Argentine governments have been uninterruptedly demanding the restitution of the full exercise of sovereignty over the Islands. Even with different emphases and strategies, since 1833 no Argentine government has consented to or legitimized the colonial occupation. In 1994 this claim was unanimously incorporated into the National Constitution.

The British Government has failed to comply with UN resolutions and has ignored all the statements of multilateral bodies. Despite trying to base its position on respect for the “self-determination” of peoples, the economic and geopolitical interests underlying its claim to perpetuate the colonial situation are becoming increasingly evident. The United Kingdom is trying to force the interpretation of the principle of self-determination for the Malvinas question when the United Nations does not consider it applicable because it is not a question of a colonized or dominated indigenous population. Those who originally lived there were the Argentines who were expelled by the British. The implantation of a population brought from the metropolis was precisely one of the mechanisms of colonization.

In the case of the Malvinas, the real motives seem evident: military control of the South Atlantic situation, exploitation of the natural resources existing in the region, the need to maintain a bridgehead for logistical support of their pretensions in the Antarctic and control over the strategic bioceanic passage.

The British military presence contradicts General Assembly Resolution 41/11 (Zone of Peace and Cooperation in the South Atlantic) which, among other provisions, calls upon States of all other regions, especially militarily important States, to scrupulously respect the South Atlantic region as a zone of peace and cooperation.

On the other hand, the exploration and exploitation of natural resources in a vast area of the Southwest Atlantic – extremely rich in hydrocarbon, fish, mineral and biodiversity resources – openly violates UN Resolution 31/49.

Another aspect by which the United Kingdom asserts its colonial presence in the Malvinas Islands is their proximity to Antarctica. Taking into account the strong British presence in the sixth continent and its claim to sovereignty -which includes the entire Argentine Antarctic sector and part of the Chilean sector- its position in the Islands constitutes a strategic situation"

Edited April 5, 2022 by Fleetinglife

[Husseinisdoingfine]

WW3 BABY LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO!

[Husseinisdoingfine]

Why tf does Russia need so much land!?!?!? They are already this massive country.

And yet they stole/lay claim to:

• Crimea from Ukraine
• Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia
• the Kuril Islands from Japan
• Karelia from Finland
• Kaliningrad from Germany
• Possible annexation of Donbass from Ukraine

 

 

[Danioover9000]

@Husseinisdoingfine

5 hours ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

Why tf does Russia need so much land!?!?!? They are already this massive country.

And yet they stole/lay claim to:

• Crimea from Ukraine
• Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia
• the Kuril Islands from Japan
• Karelia from Finland
• Kaliningrad from Germany
• Possible annexation of Donbass from Ukraine

 

 

   This proves there's collective ego, and how it evolves throughout time.

[T_i_m]

5 hours ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

Why tf does Russia need so much land!?!?!? They are already this massive country.

And yet they stole/lay claim to:

• Crimea from Ukraine
• Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia
• the Kuril Islands from Japan
• Karelia from Finland
• Kaliningrad from Germany
• Possible annexation of Donbass from Ukraine

 

 

Weird list. Russia, Georgia and Ukraine were the same country when they won Königsberg, some chunks of Karelia and Kuril Islands in wars.    And that country was much bigger. Even without considering all the countries of the communist bloc that were under Soviet control and influence after WWII.

[trenton]

5 hours ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

Why tf does Russia need so much land!?!?!? They are already this massive country.

And yet they stole/lay claim to:

• Crimea from Ukraine
• Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia
• the Kuril Islands from Japan
• Karelia from Finland
• Kaliningrad from Germany
• Possible annexation of Donbass from Ukraine

 

 

@Husseinisdoingfine large chunks of Russia are very cold.  You can't grow food or hope to survive in the especially cold areas without killing reindeer.  There are large chunks of Russia which have barely any people in it.  More Russians live closer to the Europe than toward the center and northern Russia.

https://vividmaps.com/population-density-of-russia/