Japan mulls measure after Putin's island visit: Foreign Ministry official

Japan is contemplating potential sanctions against Russia following President Vladimir Putin's inaugural visit to the disputed Kuril Islands on August 13, according to a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official. Putin journeyed to Iturup, known as Etorofu in Japanese, the largest of the four Russian-occupied islands that Japan asserts as its own.

This marked the first occasion for a Russian president or prime minister to set foot on the islands. Tokyo promptly summoned Russia's ambassador and lodged a formal protest, deeming the visit "totally unacceptable." Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi emphasized that the islands are an integral part of Japanese territory, both historically and under international law.

The Institute for the Study of War posits that the Kremlin may be employing the visit to dissuade Japan from adopting a more aggressive defense stance and to impede EU actions to seize Russian shadow-fleet vessels. The Kuril Islands dispute, rooted in an 80-year-old disagreement, remains unresolved due to Japan's refusal to officially acknowledge Soviet territorial claims following World War II.

The Soviet Union seized the four southernmost islands, inhabited by Japanese residents, during the war's final weeks. Japan persistently refers to them as the Northern Territories, and has never relinquished its claim. The timing of Putin's visit coincides with Japan's hardening stance towards Moscow. Japan's 2026 Defense White Paper identifies Russia as one of the nation's primary threats, a claim Putin directly refuted on Wednesday, asserting that the islands were ceded to Russia as a result of World War II and accusing Japan of imposing unilateral sanctions over the "Ukraine conflict."

This development disrupts the diplomatic approach Tokyo had pursued for years. Under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Takaichi's political mentor, Japan engaged in 27 meetings with Putin to negotiate a peace treaty. In 2018, the two nations agreed to expedite talks on a 1956 declaration that would have returned Shikotan and the Habomai islets should a treaty be signed.

However, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine halted these discussions in 2022, and Putin's visit puts an end to any hope of prematurely resuming them. Ukraine has already positioned itself in the dispute, recognizing the islands as Japanese territory in 2022 and President Zelenskyy signing a decree affirming Japan's sovereignty over the Northern territories.

Japan is currently weighing its response, with the possibility of implementing a new sanctions package. While no specifics on the scope or targets have been disclosed, a similar symbolic response from Russia in 2010, when Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian head of state to visit the islands, underscores that Tokyo's response, while potentially impactful, may not derail bilateral relations entirely.