Why Putin's Trip to Some Remote Islands Made Japan Angry
On August 13, 2026, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup, one of a group of islands that both Russia and Japan say belongs to them. It was his first trip to the disputed island chain, and Japan quickly condemned the visit (The Moscow Times). On the same day, Putin held a security meeting about Russia's eastern borders in the nearby Sakhalin Region (Kremlin).
Putin had arrived in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on August 11 to watch the final stage of Russian naval drills by the Pacific Fleet, which were reported on August 12 (Kremlin). According to the Kremlin, 1,001 ships passed through waters near the Kuril Islands between April 24 and August 6, 2026, during these naval exercises (Kremlin). These waters are part of what is called an exclusive economic zone — an area extending up to 200 miles from a country's coast where that country controls fishing, shipping, and other activity. The August 13 security meeting focused on protecting Russia's eastern borders (Kremlin).
Japan calls the islands the Northern Territories and says they are inherently Japanese. After Putin's visit, the Japanese government filed formal protests (The Moscow Times; WHBL).
The dispute goes back to the end of World War II. The Soviet Union seized the four southernmost islands — Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai islets — as the war ended, and Russia has controlled them ever since. Because Japan still claims the islands, the two countries have never signed a formal peace treaty to officially end the war between them.
Over the years, Russia and Japan have worked out some limited practical arrangements. Japanese citizens and former residents of the islands can visit them under a simplified process, and Japanese fishermen are allowed to operate in the islands' waters, according to a Kremlin interview with the Japanese newspaper Asahi (Kremlin). The two sides have also discussed joint economic projects from time to time. After talks in April 2017, officials said a trip by Japanese businesspeople to the South Kuril Islands would be organized that summer to explore cooperation projects (Kremlin). Putin had also visited the Zvezda shipyard in Bolshoi Kamen, a major facility in Primorye Territory, during a 2016 working trip (Kremlin).
The broader context here is that Putin combined a territorial claim with a show of military strength. His visit to Iturup came during the final phase of naval drills that sent over a thousand ships through nearby waters. The same-day security meeting on eastern border defense ties the territory directly to Russia's military presence in the western Pacific. For Japan, a visit by a president carries far more weight than routine Russian activity on the islands. It is a head of state personally asserting that the islands belong to Russia.
The timing also puts pressure on the practical arrangements that have kept cooperation alive. The simplified visits for Japanese former residents and the fishing access deals work because both countries have agreed not to settle the sovereignty question — they cooperate without either side giving up its claim. Putin's visit, coming alongside large-scale naval exercises, makes that careful balancing act harder to maintain. Japan's condemnation suggests that Tokyo sees the visit as a step beyond routine administration and toward a firmer claim on the islands.
What is unclear is whether Japan's response will go beyond diplomatic protest and affect the existing channels — the visits, the fishing access, or any remaining economic dialogue. The 2017 framework for joint business trips to the islands came out of a diplomatic warming that has since cooled. Putin's visit puts the territorial dispute at the center of the relationship at a time when Russia is showing off its naval reach in the very same waters.
