Symbolic imageJapan protests as Putin makes first visit to disputed Kuril island
Vladimir Putin visited Iturup on Thursday, the first trip by a Russian president to the disputed Kuril Islands. Tokyo summoned Russia's ambassador and called the visit absolutely unacceptable.
Putin, who had inspected navy drills on Sakhalin a day earlier, toured a fish processing plant, a hospital and a school on the island, which Japan calls Etorofu. When Sakhalin's governor said residents were telling him "everything for victory", Putin replied that Russians have "the genetic code of a winner", according to TASS. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the visit had hurt the feelings of the Japanese people and complicated the normalisation of relations.
Moscow rejects the protest
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Tokyo's remarks outrageous, and Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned on X of "monstrous consequences" for anyone disputing Russian ownership of the islands.
From compromise to 'code of winners'
Putin had for years offered talks on a peace treaty based on the 1956 declaration, Meduza notes; Moscow broke them off after Japan joined sanctions over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Shortly before the surrender anniversary
The trip came two days before Japan marks 81 years since its surrender, Reuters reported, and the Russian and Chinese ambassadors in Tokyo jointly opposed attempts to revise the war's results.
Other opinions
TASS foregrounds Russian officials' rebuttals and quotes ruling-party lawmaker Muneo Suzuki calling Tokyo's reaction excessive, while The Guardian stresses the Soviet seizure of the islands in 1945.