Tag Archives: disputed islands

Russia to move troops into new barracks on disputed islands near Japan

FILE PHOTO: A bust of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin is seen in front of a Russian Orthodox church in Yuzhno-Kurilsk on the Island of Kunashir, one of four islands known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, December 21, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev/File Photo

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday it had built new barracks for troops on a disputed chain of islands near Japan and would build more facilities for armored vehicles, a move likely to anger Tokyo after it urged Moscow to reduce its military activity there.

The announcement, from the Ministry of Defence, said Moscow planned to shift troops into four housing complexes on two of the four disputed islands, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, next week.

The news came after the Kremlin said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might visit Russia on Jan. 21 as the two countries step up a push to defuse the territorial dispute to allow them to sign a World War Two peace treaty, something the disagreement over the Pacific islands has long prevented.

FILE PHOTO: A dog stands in front of a Soviet IS-2 tank, a World War II monument, in the village of Malokurilskoye on the island of Shikotan, Southern Kurils, Russia, December 18, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: A dog stands in front of a Soviet IS-2 tank, a World War II monument, in the village of Malokurilskoye on the island of Shikotan, Southern Kurils, Russia, December 18, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev/File Photo

There was no immediate reaction from Japan. Tokyo said in July it had asked Russia to reduce its military activity on the islands, a plea Moscow dismissed as unhelpful megaphone diplomacy at the time.

Soviet forces seized the four islands at the end of World War Two and Moscow and Tokyo both claim sovereignty over them. Diplomats on both sides have spoken of the possibility of reviving a Soviet-era draft agreement that envisaged returning two of the four islands as part of a peace deal.

President Vladimir Putin and Abe have held numerous face-to-face meetings to try to make progress.

But tensions have remained high. Tokyo says it is concerned by what it regards as an unhelpful Russian military build-up on the islands – which has included warplane, missile defense and other deployments. Moscow, meanwhile, says it is perturbed by Japan’s roll-out of the Aegis Ashore U.S. missile system.

Russian politicians say they fear Japan might agree to deploy U.S. missile facilities on the islands if it ever got any of them back and that Moscow could only countenance a deal if it received a cast-iron guarantee that ruled out such a scenario.

In the meantime, Moscow is fortifying the islands.

The Defence Ministry said on Monday it wanted troops and their families to move into the two new housing complexes on one of the four islands, Iturup (Etorofu in Japan), and into two others on the island of Kunashir (Kunashiri in Japan), on Dec. 25.

It said troops were moved into two such similar facilities last year with three more barracks planned for 2019.

“Also on both islands, we have modern and heated storage facilities for weapons and armored vehicles,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that more such facilities were planned.

(Additional reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Christian Lowe and Mark Heinrich)

Russia approves warplane deployment on disputed island near Japan

Japan Coast Guard vessel PS08 Kariba sails off Cape Nosappu, easternmost point in Japan, in Nemuro on Hokkaido island, as part of a group of islands known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia can be seen in the background April 14, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved the deployment of Russian warplanes on a disputed island near Japan, accelerating the area’s militarization at a time when Moscow’s ties with Tokyo are strained over the roll-out of a U.S. missile system.

In a decree published late on Thursday, Medvedev allowed the Russian Defence Ministry to use a civilian airport on the island of Iturup, as it is known by Russia, or Etorofu, as it is called in Japan, for its warplanes.

The island was one of four seized by Soviet forces at the end of World War Two and is located off the north-east coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s biggest prefecture. The dispute over the islands, known as the Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, is so acrimonious that Moscow and Tokyo have not yet signed a peace treaty to mark the end of the war.

Medvedev’s decree is the latest step in a Russian military build-up that has seen Moscow deploy some of its newest missile defense systems to the islands and plan to build a naval base there even as it continues talks about the territorial dispute.

The decree was published days before deputy foreign ministers from the two countries are due to hold talks about co-operation on the disputed islands and at a time when Russia is concerned that Japan is allowing Washington to use its territory as a base for a U.S. military build-up in north Asia under the pretext of countering North Korea.

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It is unclear whether Russia will permanently deploy warplanes to the island, which hosted a Soviet air base during the Cold War, or use its airport as and when needed.

The newspaper Kommersant cited an unnamed military source as saying the move would give the Russian military more options.

“This move should show the aerodrome’s readiness for fighter planes that patrol our borders to be temporarily based there,” the source was quoted as saying.

The same source was quoted as saying that Russia was particularly concerned about a Japanese plan to deploy more Aegis U.S. missile systems in its Akita and Yagamata prefectures.

The Japanese embassy in Moscow said the Russian move ran counter to what Tokyo was trying to achieve.

“We believe this could result in Russia’s military power being strengthened on the four islands and that contradicts Japan’s position on the islands,” it said in a statement.

“We need a solution to the territorial problem itself in order to fundamentally address these kind of problems.”

Tokyo would keep holding talks with Russia to try to resolve the wider territorial dispute, the embassy said.

(Editing by Gareth Jones and Robin Pomeroy)