Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived on the Kuril Islands for the first time, visiting Iturup Island, according to the Kremlin press service. The program began with a tour of the Yasny fish-processing plant; Putin also visited the Kuril Central District Hospital and a school named after Hero of Russia E.D. Norpolov.
On the island, the president met with Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko, who said residents, including in remote areas, tell him: "Everything for victory." "Such are our people. The genetic code of winners," Putin replied (quoted by TASS and RIA Novosti).
Japan's Foreign Ministry responded to the visit with a "resolute protest," Kyodo News reported. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi called the four northern islands, including Iturup, "inherent territory" of Japan "historically and under international law."
Before traveling to Iturup, Putin visited Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and took part in the final stage of Pacific Fleet exercises. There he said Russia had previously had constructive relations on the Kuril issue with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders, but now Tokyo had changed its position, and this was not provoked by Moscow.
Previously, Russian presidents and prime ministers had visited the Kurils five times. In 2010, Dmitry Medvedev went there while president; later, in 2012, 2015, and 2019, as prime minister. In 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited the islands. In January 2024, Putin admitted he had never been to the Kurils before and promised to go.
The USSR annexed the southern Kurils — Kunashir, Shikotan, Iturup, and Khabomai — after World War II. In 1956, the Soviet Union signed a peace declaration with Japan, promising to return Shikotan and Khabomai after a peace treaty was concluded; later Tokyo began demanding all four islands, and the treaty was never signed. After the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow halted peace treaty negotiations, and Japan, for the first time since 2003, began calling the Kurils "illegally occupied" territory.
Sources differ: the Russian side (Kremlin, TASS, RIA Novosti) and the Japanese Foreign Ministry give different interpretations of the islands' status. Moscow considers the Kurils part of its territory; Tokyo calls them "inherent territory" and refers to them as the "Northern Territories." Also, publications quote Putin differently: TASS cites the words "The genetic code of the winner," while TV Rain and RIA Novosti cite "The genetic code of winners."