Russia Waves Nuclear Threat at Japan as Kuril Islands Dispute Escalates

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s State Duma, invoked Moscow’s nuclear arsenal while warning Japan over its territorial claims to the disputed Kuril Islands, marking another escalation in already worsening tensions between the two countries.

Volodin accused Tokyo on August 26 of adopting increasingly confrontational rhetoric over the islands and repeated Moscow’s claim that the disputed territory is an “integral part” of Russia.

Volodin then pointed directly to Russia’s status as a nuclear-armed state while attacking Japan’s position.

“Let them remember the times when militarist Japan killed millions of civilians. Now they are trying to return to the same rhetoric. They should not. A nuclear power such as Russia cannot be defeated,” Volodin said.

The remarks come less than two weeks after Russian leader Vladimir Putin traveled to Iturup, known in Japan as Etorofu, on August 13 in a visit that triggered a sharp protest from Tokyo.

It was Putin’s first visit to the disputed island chain during his time in power.

Japan claims four southern islands controlled by Russia—Etorofu, known in Russia as Iturup; Kunashiri, known as Kunashir; Shikotan; and the Habomai islets. Tokyo collectively refers to them as the Northern Territories.

The Soviet Union seized the islands at the end of World War II, and the decades-long territorial dispute has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a formal postwar peace treaty.

Following Putin’s visit, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reaffirmed Tokyo’s territorial claim and described the Russian leader’s trip to Etorofu as “absolutely unacceptable.”

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Japan also lodged a formal protest with Moscow.

Russia, meanwhile, has rejected Tokyo’s claims and increasingly framed Japan’s position as evidence of renewed militarism, particularly as relations between the two countries have deteriorated since Japan joined Western sanctions against Moscow over Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

In addition, days after Putin’s first-ever visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, Russia staged rare missile drills nearby—using a nuclear submarine, a missile cruiser, and a Bastion coastal system in a fresh show of force toward Japan.

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