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Medvedev Threatens Japan with “Monstrous Consequences” Over Kuril Islands Dispute
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Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, threatened Japan with severe repercussions over Tokyo’s stance on the disputed South Kuril Islands, The Moscow Times reported on August 13.
The escalating rhetoric follows a diplomatic row triggered by Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to the contested archipelago, which separates the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean and serves as a strategic buffer for Russian nuclear submarine bases in the Far East.
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The territorial dispute intensified after Tokyo officially protested Putin’s trip to the islands, prompting Japan’s Foreign Ministry to summon Russian Ambassador Nikolai Nozdrev.
In response, Medvedev lashed out at Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on the social media platform X, warning that Tokyo’s claims to the territory would yield disastrous results, The Moscow Times reported.
“Prime Minister of Japan Takaichi can chat all she wants about the Kuril Islands being 'historically Japanese,' but this chatter will change nothing,” Medvedev wrote. “They were, are, and will be Russian land. Anyone who does not understand this will face the monstrous consequences of their illusion.”
Japan’s Foreign Ministry maintained its firm stance, stating that the southern islands—comprising Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai islets—are “historically and from the point of view of international law, the inherent territory of our country.”
Prime Minister Takaichi emphasized that Putin’s visit would “inevitably exacerbate anti-Russian sentiment in Japanese society and make it difficult to restore relations” between the two nations, according to The Moscow Times.
The territorial dispute dates back to the closing days of World War II, when Soviet forces seized the entire Kuril chain by September 1945. The territories were subsequently incorporated into the Soviet Union, and the entire Japanese population was deported.
Tokyo has consistently viewed the Soviet and subsequent Russian control of the islands as an illegal occupation. Despite more than 25 meetings between Putin and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before 2020, the two nations failed to resolve the issue, The Moscow Times noted.
Relations collapsed entirely following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, Moscow abruptly withdrew from peace treaty negotiations after Japan joined international sanctions against Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry subsequently banned former Japanese residents from visiting the islands without a visa.
By April 2022, Tokyo officially designated the South Kurils as “illegally occupied territories” for the first time in nearly two decades, The Moscow Times reported.
The territorial standoff over the Kurils coincides with heightened defense rhetoric from Tokyo. In its annual White Paper, Japan’s Defense Ministry outlined plans to strengthen its military capacity, pointing to expanding coordination between Russia, China, and North Korea.
The report cites Moscow’s support for Pyongyang’s military modernization and an increase in joint Chinese and Russian strategic bomber patrols near Japanese airspace, which recently prompted a three-year high in fighter jet scrambles. Japanese defense officials characterized the joint maneuvers as a deliberate demonstration of force designed to exert political pressure on Tokyo.
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