Russia rebukes Japanese ambassador in Kuril Islands row

On Tuesday, August 18, 2026, Russia summoned the Japanese ambassador to protest Tokyo's condemnation of President Vladimir Putin's visit to the Kuril Islands. The disputed Pacific archipelago, known as Iturup to the Japanese, is claimed by both Russia and Japan. Last week, Putin paid a visit to Iturup, one of the four southernmost islands in the chain.

The Soviet Union took these islands from Japan at the end of World War II, and the ongoing dispute has prevented the two nations from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called Putin's visit "incompatible with the Japanese position on the Northern Territories" and deemed it "absolutely unacceptable." She stated that the visit was another blow to already-tense relations between the two countries due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi strongly protested Putin's visit to Iturup, emphasizing that the Northern Territories, including Etorofu Island, are Japan's inherent territory both historically and from an international law perspective.

On Tuesday, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin met with the Japanese Ambassador Akira Muto to lodge a formal protest over the "anti-Russia" statements made by Takaichi and Motegi. Galuzin told Muto that "Russia's sovereignty and jurisdiction over the southern Kuril Islands are absolutely unshakable." He reiterated that these territories were transferred to Russia as a result of World War II, as per the agreements of the Allied Powers and the United Nations Charter.

Galuzin emphasized that any attempts by the Japanese side to question this reality, either directly or indirectly, are "absolutely unacceptable and unlawful."