Moscow's gateway to the Pacific

Russia and Japan have been at odds over the Kuril Islands for decades. After the latest developments, is the archipelago a strategic challenge for Moscow?

The island chain of the Kuril Islands, located between the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka and the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, forms a gateway out into the Pacific and into the Sea of Okhotsk, the backyard of the Russian Pacific Fleet.
Shortly before the end of the Second World War in the Pacific, the Soviet Union completely occupied the island chain in September 1945. While Russia's claim to sovereignty over the northern islands of the Kuril Islands is undisputed, Japan claims the four southernmost islands for itself and justifies this with historical borders, the origin of the original population and geography: according to Japanese understanding, the four islands - known there as the Northern Territories - are part of Hokkaidō. This position was confirmed by the Western Allies in the 1951 peace treaty with Japan and upheld vis-à-vis the Soviet Union. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the obligations under international law were transferred to Russia, so that both states entered into bilateral negotiations to find a solution.