Stumbling Islands: Will Russia give Japan the South Kuriles. Why Russia will never give Japan the southern Kuriles
The dispute between Russia and Japan over this has been going on for decades. Due to the unresolved issue between the two countries, there is still no
Why are the negotiations so difficult and is there a chance to find an acceptable solution that would suit both parties, the iz.ru portal found out.
Political maneuver
“We have been negotiating for seventy years. Shinzo said, "Let's change our minds." Let's. So that's the idea that came to my mind: let's conclude a peace treaty - not now, but before the end of the year - without any preconditions.
This remark by Vladimir Putin at the Vladivostok Economic Forum caused a stir in the media. Japan's response, however, was predictable: Tokyo was not ready to make peace without resolving the territorial issue due to a host of circumstances. Any politician who fixes in an international treaty even a hint of renunciation of claims to the so-called northern territories runs the risk of losing the election and ending his political career.
For decades, Japanese journalists, politicians and scientists have been explaining to the nation that the issue of returning the South Kuriles for the country rising sun is fundamental, and eventually explained.
Now, with any political maneuver on the Russian front, the Japanese elites must take into account the notorious territorial problem.
Why Japan wants to get the four southern islands of the Kuril chain is understandable. But why does Russia not want to give them away?
From merchants to military bases
On the existence of the Kuril Islands Big world did not suspect until about the middle of the XVII century. The Ainu people who lived on them once inhabited all the Japanese islands, but under the pressure of the invaders who arrived from the mainland - the ancestors of the future Japanese - were gradually destroyed or driven north - to Hokkaido, the Kuriles and Sakhalin.
In 1635-1637, a Japanese expedition explored the southernmost islands of the Kuril chain, in 1643 the Dutch explorer Martin de Vries explored Iturup and Urup and declared the latter the property of the Dutch East India Company. Five years later northern islands were opened by Russian merchants. In the 18th century, the Russian government took up the exploration of the Kuriles in earnest.
Russian expeditions reached the very south, mapped Shikotan and Habomai, and soon Catherine II issued a decree that all the Kuriles up to Japan itself were Russian territory. The European powers took note of this. The opinion of the Japanese at that time did not bother anyone except themselves.
Three islands - the so-called Southern group: Urup, Iturup and Kunashir - as well as the Lesser Kuril Ridge - Shikotan and numerous uninhabited islands next to it, which the Japanese call Habomai - ended up in a gray zone.
The Russians did not build fortifications or station garrisons there, and the Japanese were mainly occupied with the colonization of Hokkaido. Only on February 7, 1855, the first border treaty, the Shimoda Treaty, was signed between Russia and Japan.
According to its terms, the border between Japanese and Russian possessions passed through the Frieze Strait - ironically named after the very Dutch navigator who tried to declare the islands Dutch. Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai went to Japan, Urup and the islands further north to Russia.
In 1875, the entire ridge to Kamchatka itself was transferred to the Japanese in exchange for the southern part of Sakhalin; 30 years later, Japan regained it as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, which Russia lost.
During World War II, Japan was one of the Axis states, but hostilities between the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan did not take place during most of the conflict, since the parties signed a non-aggression pact in 1941.
However, on April 6, 1945, the USSR, fulfilling its allied obligations, warned Japan about the denunciation of the pact, and in August declared war on it. Soviet troops occupied all Kurile Islands, on the territory of which the Yuzhno-Sakhalin region was created.
But in the end, things did not come to a peace treaty between Japan and the USSR. The Cold War began, relations between the former allies heated up. Japan, occupied by American troops, automatically ended up on the side of the Western bloc in the new conflict.
Under the terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, which the Union refused to sign for a number of reasons, Japan confirmed the return of all the Kuriles to the USSR - except for Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Khabomai.
Five years later, there seemed to be the prospect of a lasting peace: the USSR and Japan adopted the Moscow Declaration, which ended the state of war. The Soviet leadership then expressed its readiness to give Japan Shikotan and Habomai, on the condition that it withdraw its claims to Iturup and Kunashir.
But in the end, everything fell apart. The United States threatened Japan that if they signed an agreement with the Soviet Union, they would not return the Ryukyu archipelago to it. In 1960, Tokyo and Washington entered into an agreement on mutual cooperation and security guarantees, which contained a provision that the United States had the right to station troops of any size in Japan and establish military bases, and after that Moscow categorically abandoned the idea of a peace treaty.
If earlier the USSR had the illusion that by concession to Japan it was possible to normalize relations with it, transferring it to the category of at least relatively neutral countries, now the transfer of the islands meant that American military bases would soon appear on them.
As a result, the peace treaty was never concluded - and has not yet been concluded.
Dashing 1990s
Soviet leaders up to Gorbachev did not recognize the existence of a territorial problem in principle. In 1993, already under Yeltsin, the Tokyo Declaration was signed, in which Moscow and Tokyo indicated their intention to resolve the issue of ownership of the South Kuriles. In Russia, this was perceived with considerable concern, in Japan, on the contrary, with enthusiasm.
The northern neighbor was going through hard times, and the most insane projects can be found in the Japanese press of that time - up to the purchase of the islands for a large sum, since the then Russian leadership was ready to make endless concessions to Western partners.
But in the end, both Russian fears and Japanese hopes turned out to be groundless: within a few years, Russia's foreign policy course was adjusted in favor of greater realism, and there was no longer any talk of transferring the Kuriles.
In 2004, the question suddenly surfaced again. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Moscow, as a state - the successor of the USSR, is ready to resume negotiations on the basis of the Moscow Declaration - that is, to sign a peace treaty and then, as a gesture of goodwill, give Shikotan and Habomai to Japan.
The Japanese did not compromise, and already in 2014 Russia completely returned to Soviet rhetoric, declaring that it had no territorial dispute with Japan.
Moscow's position is completely transparent, understandable and explainable. This is the position of the strong: it is not Russia that demands something from Japan - quite the contrary, the Japanese put forward claims that they cannot back up either militarily or politically. Accordingly, on the part of Russia, we can only talk about a gesture of good will - and nothing more.
Economic relations with Japan are developing as usual, the islands do not affect them in any way, and the transfer of the islands will not speed them up or slow them down.
At the same time, the transfer of islands may entail a number of consequences, and their magnitude depends on which islands will be transferred.
The sea is closed, the sea is open
“This is a success that Russia has been striving for for many years... In terms of reserves, these territories are a real Ali Baba's cave, access to which opens up huge opportunities and prospects for the Russian economy...
The inclusion of the enclave in the Russian shelf establishes the exclusive rights of Russia to the resources of the subsoil and the seabed of the enclave, including fishing for sessile species, that is, crabs, mollusks, and so on, and also extends Russian jurisdiction over the territory of the enclave in terms of requirements for fishing, safety, environmental protection ".
So the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia Sergey Donskoy in 2013 commented on the news that the UN subcommittee had decided to recognize the Sea of Okhotsk as an inland sea of Russia.
Until that moment, in the very center of the Sea of Okhotsk, there was an enclave stretching from north to south with an area of 52 thousand square meters. km, for its characteristic shape called the "Peanut Hole" (Peanut Hole).
The fact is that the 200-mile special economic zone of Russia did not reach the very center of the sea - thus, the waters there were considered international and ships of any states could fish in them and mine minerals. After the UN subcommittee approved the Russian application, the sea became completely Russian.
This story had many heroes: scientists who proved that the seabed in the Peanut Hole area is the continental shelf, diplomats who managed to defend Russian claims, and others.
What will happen to the status of the Sea of Okhotsk if Russia gives Japan two islands - Shikotan and Habomai? Absolutely nothing. None of them is washed by its waters, therefore, no changes are expected. But if Moscow also gives up Kunashir and Iturup to Tokyo, then the situation will not be so clear-cut.
The distance between Kunashir and Sakhalin is less than 400 nautical miles, that is, the special economic zone of Russia completely covers the south of the Sea of Okhotsk. But there are already 500 nautical miles from Sakhalin to Urup: a corridor leading to the Peanut Hole is being formed between the two parts of the economic zone.
It is difficult to predict what consequences this will entail.
At the border, the seiner walks gloomily
A similar situation is developing in the military sphere. Kunashir is separated from Japanese Hokkaido by the Straits of Treason and Kunashir; between Kunashir and Iturup lies the Catherine Strait, between Iturup and Urup - the Friza Strait.
Now the straits of Ekaterina and Friza are under full Russian control, Treason and Kunashirsky are under surveillance. Not a single enemy submarine or ship will be able to enter the Sea of Okhotsk through the islands of the Kuril chain unnoticed, while Russian submarines and ships can safely exit through the deep-water straits of Ekaterina and Friz.
If Japan transfers two islands to Russian ships, it will be more difficult to use the Catherine Strait; in the event of the transfer of four, Russia will completely lose control over the straits of Treason, Kunashirsky and Ekaterina and will only be able to monitor the Friza strait. Thus, a hole is formed in the system of protection of the Sea of Okhotsk, which cannot be repaired.
The economy of the Kuril Islands is tied primarily to the extraction and processing of fish. There is no economy on Habomai due to the lack of population, on Shikotan, where about 3 thousand people live, there is a fish cannery.
Of course, in the event of the transfer of these islands to Japan, it will be necessary to decide the fate of the people living on them and the enterprises, and this decision will not be easy.
But if Russia gives up Iturup and Kunashir, the consequences will be much greater. Now about 15 thousand people live on these islands, infrastructure is being actively built, in 2014 it international Airport. But most importantly, Iturup is rich in minerals.
There, in particular, is the only economically profitable deposit of rhenium - one of the rarest metals. Before the collapse of the USSR, Russian industry received it from the Kazakh Dzhezkazgan, and the deposit on the Kudryavy volcano is a chance to completely end dependence on rhenium imports.
Thus, if Russia gives Japan Habomai and Shikotan, it will lose part of its territory and suffer relatively small economic losses; if, in addition, it gives up Iturup and Kunashir, it will suffer much more both economically and strategically. But in any case, you can give only when the other side has something to offer in return. Tokyo has nothing to offer yet.
Russia wants peace - but with a strong, peaceful and friendly Japan pursuing an independent foreign policy.
In the current conditions, when experts and politicians are talking louder and louder about a new cold war, the ruthless logic of confrontation comes into play again: giving Japan, which supports anti-Russian sanctions and retains American bases on its territory, Habomai and Shikotan, not to mention Kunashir and Iturup, Russia risks simply losing the islands without getting anything in return. It is unlikely that Moscow is ready to go for it.
Alexey Lyusin
"these territories are not part of the Kuril Islands, which Japan renounced under the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951."
Pars pro toto. The whole cannot equal the part. "…create the danger that we will mistake a part for the whole. …encourage us - dangerously - to mistake parts for the whole." Japan has not renounced the North. Smoked, but from the Kurils. San Francisco Treaty 1951 8 September. chapter II. Territory. Article 2. (c) "Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kurile Islands, … Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kurile Islands, …" 02/16/11 The world today: Russian anti-aircraft missiles in the Kuriles ("Commentary Magazine", USA) J. E. Dyer P.J. Crowley made it equally clear that the treaty does not apply to defense of the Kuril Islands, because the islands are “not under Japanese administration.” J. Crowley just as clearly pointed out that the treaty does not apply to the defense of the Kuril Islands, since they are "not under the control of Japan".
If Jap. the tops look at the Treaty of San Francisco and see after the words "Yap-ya renounces" instead of the real 4 hieroglyphs "Chishima retto" (Kurile Archipelago, Kuriles) 4 virtual "Hoppo no Chishima" (Northern Kuriles), then what can be a clinical diagnosis?
All the Kuril Islands were called and are called in Japanese by one name, it sounds something like “Chishima”, which translates as “1000 islands”. The Southern Kuriles are called "Minami Chishima" or "Southern Chishima". In the description of the modern revisionist map of the Nemuro Subprefecture, where they painstakingly included the South Kuriles. the character combination "Minami Chishima" is used. Moreover, in international documents, in particular in Memorandum 677 (which, among others, removed the Kuriles from the sovereignty of Japan as a separate clause), the English transcription of Chishima, that is, all the Kuriles, was used.
It is funny and sad at the same time! Yap-ya looks like an enraged husband. discovered after the divorce that he was deprived of access to the body.
If you clearly said PAS in the game, you will not be able to get involved in the game again! Japan itself abdicated in San Francisco in 1951. If a mother gives the child to an orphanage and signs a notarized renunciation of the child, then what does it matter to a person who wants to adopt if he was not a witness to the signing of the renunciation? The same is true in case of divorce. How many husbands married to ex-divorced wives witnessed that divorce being finalized?
These are the kind we have in Japan, in the Russian Federation, God forgive me, jurists. The LAW clearly distinguishes between "lost (and newly found)" property and "Abandoned" property. When property is lost, the law sees that the loss occurred by accident and against the will of the owner. Found someone else's property cannot be appropriated and must be returned to the owner in due time. On the contrary, when the owner VOLUNTARY parted with his property, the law asserts that the property becomes not belonging to anyone, to anyone, and, therefore, not only the above property, but also all rights to its maintenance and use, passes to the FIRST person who took possession of it. them. Claims to the San Francisco treaty are unfounded, since for the Anglo-Saxons the rights of the USSR were self-evident. Japan renounced Kurile (not North-ern Kurile, Jap. Chishima (not Hoppo no Chishima) on mature reflection, 6 years after the war. What other FORMULA OF RENUNCIATION do you need?
controversy about four South Kuril Islands currently owned by the Russian Federation have been underway for quite some time. This land, as a result of agreements and wars signed at different times, changed hands several times. Currently, these islands are the cause of the unresolved territorial dispute between Russia and Japan.
Discovery of the islands
The issue of opening the Kuril Islands is controversial. According to the Japanese side, the Japanese were the first to set foot on the land of the islands in 1644. The map of that time with the designations applied to it - “Kunashiri”, “Etorofu”, etc. is carefully preserved in National Museum Japanese history. And the Russian pioneers, according to the Japanese, first came to the Kuril ridge only during the time of Tsar Peter I, in 1711, and on the Russian map of 1721 these islands are called "Japanese Islands".
But in reality, the situation is different: firstly, the Japanese received the first information about the Kuriles (from the Ainu language - “kuru” means “a person who came from nowhere”) from the local residents of the Ainu (the oldest non-Japanese population of the Kuril Islands and the Japanese Islands) during an expedition to Hokkaido in 1635. Moreover, the Japanese did not reach the Kuril lands themselves due to constant conflicts with the local population.
It should be noted that the Ainu were hostile to the Japanese, and initially they treated the Russians well, considering them their "brothers", because of the similarity in appearance and methods of communication between Russians and small peoples.
Secondly, the Kuril Islands were discovered by the Dutch expedition of Maarten Gerritsen de Vries (Vries) in 1643, the Dutch were looking for the so-called. "Golden Lands" The Dutch did not like the land, and they sold a detailed description of them, a map to the Japanese. It was on the basis of Dutch data that the Japanese compiled their maps.
Thirdly, the Japanese at that time did not own not only the Kuriles, but even Hokkaido, only in its southern part there was their stronghold. The Japanese began to conquer the island at the beginning of the 17th century, and the struggle against the Ainu went on for two centuries. That is, if the Russians were interested in expansion, then Hokkaido could become a Russian island. This was facilitated by the good attitude of the Ainu towards the Russians and their enmity towards the Japanese. There are records of this fact. The Japanese state of that time did not officially consider itself the sovereign of not only Sakhalin and the Kuril lands, but also Hokkaido (Matsumae) - this was confirmed in his circular by the head of the Japanese government, Matsudaira, during the Russian-Japanese negotiations on the border and trade in 1772.
Fourthly, Russian explorers visited the islands before the Japanese. In the Russian state, the first mention of the Kuril lands dates back to 1646, when Nekhoroshko Ivanovich Kolobov gave a report to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich about the campaigns of Ivan Yuryevich Moskvitin and spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the Kuriles. In addition, Dutch, Scandinavian and German medieval chronicles and maps report the first Russian settlements in the Kuriles of that time. The first reports about the Kuril lands and their inhabitants reached the Russians in the middle of the 17th century.
In 1697, during the expedition of Vladimir Atlasov to Kamchatka, new information about the islands appeared, the Russians explored the islands up to Simushir (an island of the middle group of the Great Kuril Islands).
18th century
Peter I knew about the Kuril Islands, in 1719 the tsar sent a secret expedition to Kamchatka led by Ivan Mikhailovich Evreinov and Fedor Fedorovich Luzhin. The marine surveyor Evreinov and the surveyor-cartographer Luzhin had to determine whether there was a strait between Asia and America. The expedition reached the island of Simushir in the south and brought local residents and rulers to the Russian state.
In 1738-1739, the navigator Martyn Petrovich Shpanberg (a Dane by origin) traveled along the entire Kuril ridge, mapped all the islands he encountered, including the entire Lesser Kuril ridge (these are 6 large and a number of small islands that are separated from the Greater Kuril ridge by the South - Kuril Strait). He explored the lands up to Hokkaido (Matsumaya), bringing the local Ainu rulers to the Russian state.
In the future, the Russians avoided sailing to the southern islands, mastered the northern territories. Unfortunately, at that time, abuses against the Ainu were noted not only by the Japanese, but also by the Russians.
In 1771, the Lesser Kuril Ridge was withdrawn from Russia and passed under the protectorate of Japan. The Russian authorities, in order to rectify the situation, sent the nobleman Antipin with the translator Shabalin. They were able to persuade the Ainu to restore Russian citizenship. In 1778-1779, Russian envoys brought over 1.5 thousand people from Iturup, Kunashir and even Hokkaido into citizenship. In 1779, Catherine II freed those who accepted Russian citizenship from all taxes.
In 1787, a list of the Kuril Islands up to Hokkaido-Matsumai was given in the "Extensive land description of the Russian state ...", the status of which has not yet been determined. Although the Russians did not control the lands south of Urup Island, the Japanese operated there.
In 1799, by order of the sei-taishogun Tokugawa Ienari, he headed the Tokugawa Shogunate, two outposts were built on Kunashir and Iturup, and permanent garrisons were placed there. Thus, the Japanese secured the status of these territories within Japan by military means.
Space image of the Lesser Kuril Ridge
Agreements
In 1845, the Japanese Empire unilaterally announced its power over all of Sakhalin and the Kuril ridge. This naturally caused a violent negative reaction from the Russian Emperor Nicholas I. But, the Russian Empire did not have time to take action, the events of the Crimean War prevented it. Therefore, it was decided to make concessions and not bring the matter to war.
On February 7, 1855, the first diplomatic agreement between Russia and Japan was concluded - Shimoda Treaty. It was signed by Vice Admiral E. V. Putyatin and Toshiakira Kawaji. According to the 9th article of the treatise, "permanent peace and sincere friendship between Russia and Japan" was established. Japan moved the islands from Iturup and to the south, Sakhalin was declared a joint, indivisible possession. Russians in Japan received consular jurisdiction, Russian ships received the right to enter the ports of Shimoda, Hakodate, Nagasaki. The Russian Empire received the most favored nation treatment in trade with Japan and received the right to open consulates in ports open to Russians. That is, in general, especially given the difficult international situation of Russia, the treaty can be assessed positively. Since 1981, the Japanese have celebrated the signing of the Shimoda Treaty as the Day of the Northern Territories.
It should be noted that in fact the Japanese received the right to the "Northern Territories" only for "permanent peace and sincere friendship between Japan and Russia", the most favored nation treatment in trade relations. Their further actions de facto annulled this agreement.
Initially, the provision of the Shimoda Treaty on the joint ownership of Sakhalin Island was more beneficial for Russian Empire, which led the active colonization of this territory. The Japanese Empire did not good fleet, therefore, at that time did not have such an opportunity. But later, the Japanese began to intensively populate the territory of Sakhalin, and the question of its ownership began to become more and more controversial and acute. The contradictions between Russia and Japan were resolved by signing the St. Petersburg Treaty.
St. Petersburg Treaty. It was signed in the capital of the Russian Empire on April 25 (May 7), 1875. Under this agreement, the Empire of Japan transferred Sakhalin to Russia in full ownership, and in exchange received all the islands of the Kuril chain.
St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875 (Japanese Foreign Ministry Archive).
As a result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and Treaty of Portsmouth On August 23 (September 5), 1905, the Russian Empire, in accordance with the 9th article of the agreement, ceded to Japan the south of Sakhalin, south of 50 degrees north latitude. Article 12 contained an agreement on the conclusion of a convention on fishing by the Japanese along the Russian coasts of the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea.
After the death of the Russian Empire and the beginning of foreign intervention, the Japanese occupied Northern Sakhalin and participated in the occupation of the Far East. When the Bolshevik Party won the civil war, Japan did not want to recognize the USSR for a long time. Only after the Soviet authorities in 1924 canceled the status of the Japanese consulate in Vladivostok and in the same year the USSR recognized Great Britain, France and China, the Japanese authorities decided to normalize relations with Moscow.
Beijing Treaty. On February 3, 1924, official negotiations between the USSR and Japan began in Beijing. Only on January 20, 1925, the Soviet-Japanese convention on the basic principles of relations between countries was signed. The Japanese undertook to withdraw their forces from the territory of Northern Sakhalin by May 15, 1925. The declaration of the government of the USSR, which was attached to the convention, emphasized that the Soviet government did not share political responsibility with the former government of the Russian Empire for the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty of 1905. In addition, the agreement of the parties was enshrined in the convention that all agreements, treaties and conventions concluded between Russia and Japan before November 7, 1917, except for the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, should be revised.
In general, the USSR made great concessions: in particular, Japanese citizens, companies and associations were granted the rights to exploit natural resources throughout the territory of the Soviet Union. On July 22, 1925, a contract was signed to provide the Empire of Japan with a coal concession, and on December 14, 1925, an oil concession in Northern Sakhalin. Moscow agreed to this agreement in order to stabilize the situation in the Russian Far East in this way, since the Japanese supported the Whites outside the USSR. But in the end, the Japanese began to systematically violate the convention, create conflict situations.
During the Soviet-Japanese negotiations that took place in the spring of 1941 regarding the conclusion of a neutrality treaty, the Soviet side raised the question of liquidating Japan's concessions in Northern Sakhalin. The Japanese gave their written consent to this, but delayed the implementation of the agreement for 3 years. Only when the USSR began to gain the upper hand over the Third Reich did the Japanese government agree to the implementation of the agreement given earlier. So, on March 30, 1944, a protocol was signed in Moscow on the destruction of the Japanese oil and coal concessions in Northern Sakhalin and the transfer to the Soviet Union of all Japanese concession property.
February 11, 1945 at the Yalta conference three great powers - the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain - reached an oral agreement on the entry of the USSR into the war with the Empire of Japan on the terms of the return of South Sakhalin and the Kuril ridge to it after the end of World War II.
In the Potsdam Declaration dated July 26, 1945, it was said that Japanese sovereignty would be limited only to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and other smaller islands, which the victorious countries would indicate. The Kuril Islands were not mentioned.
After the defeat of Japan, on January 29, 1946, by Memorandum No. 677 of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Powers by the American General Douglas MacArthur, the Chisima Islands (Kuril Islands), the Habomadze Islands (Habomai) and the island of Shikotan (Shikotan) were excluded from Japanese territory.
According to San Francisco Peace Treaty dated September 8, 1951, the Japanese side waived all rights to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. But the Japanese argue that Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Khabomai (the islands of the Lesser Kuril ridge) were not part of the Tisima Islands (Kuril Islands) and they did not refuse them.
Negotiations in Portsmouth (1905) - from left to right: from the Russian side (far side of the table) - Planson, Nabokov, Witte, Rosen, Korostovets.
Further agreements
joint declaration. On October 19, 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan adopted a Joint Declaration. The document ended the state of war between the countries and restored diplomatic relations, and also spoke of Moscow's consent to the transfer of the Habomai and Shikotan islands to the Japanese side. But they were to be handed over only after the signing of the peace treaty. However, later Japan was forced to refuse to sign a peace treaty with the USSR. The United States threatened the Japanese not to give up Okinawa and the entire Ryukyu archipelago if they gave up their claims to the other islands of the Lesser Kuril chain.
After Tokyo signed the Cooperation and Security Treaty with Washington in January 1960, extending the American military presence on the Japanese islands, Moscow declared that it refused to consider the issue of transferring the islands to the Japanese side. The statement was substantiated by the security of the USSR and China.
In 1993 was signed Tokyo Declaration about Russian-Japanese relations. It said that the Russian Federation is the legal successor of the USSR and recognizes the 1956 agreement. Moscow expressed its readiness to start negotiations on Japan's territorial claims. In Tokyo, this was assessed as a sign of the coming victory.
In 2004, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov, made a statement that Moscow recognizes the 1956 Declaration and is ready to negotiate a peace treaty based on it. In 2004-2005, this position was confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But the Japanese insisted on the transfer of 4 islands, so the issue was not resolved. Moreover, the Japanese gradually increased their pressure, for example, in 2009, the head of the Japanese government at a government meeting called the Lesser Kuril Ridge "illegally occupied territories." In 2010-early 2011, the Japanese got so excited that some military experts began to talk about the possibility of a new Russo-Japanese war. Only a spring natural disaster - the consequences of a tsunami and a terrible earthquake, the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant - cooled the ardor of Japan.
As a result, the loud statements of the Japanese led to the fact that Moscow announced that the islands are the territory of the Russian Federation legally following the results of the Second World War, this is enshrined in the UN Charter. And the Russian sovereignty over the Kuriles, which has the appropriate international legal confirmation, is beyond doubt. Plans were also announced to develop the economy of the islands and strengthen the Russian military presence there.
The strategic importance of the islands
economic factor. The islands are economically underdeveloped, but they have deposits of valuable and rare earth metals - gold, silver, rhenium, titanium. The waters are rich in biological resources, the seas that wash the shores of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are one of the most productive areas of the World Ocean. The shelves, where hydrocarbon deposits have been found, are also of great importance.
political factor. The cession of the islands will sharply lower Russia's status in the world, and there will be a legal opportunity to review other results of the Second World War. For example, they may be required to give Kaliningrad region Germany or part of Karelia Finland.
military factor. The transfer of the islands of the South Kuril chain will provide the naval forces of Japan and the United States with free access to the Sea of Okhotsk. It will allow our potential adversaries to exercise control over strategically important strait zones, which will drastically impair the ability to deploy forces Pacific Fleet Russian Federation, including nuclear submarines with intercontinental ballistic missiles. This will be a strong blow to the military security of the Russian Federation.
And equipping the islands is not profitable
Japan refused Dmitry MEDVEDEV's proposal to create a free trade zone with Russia in the South Kuriles. At the same time, Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Takeaki MATSUMOTO stressed that Japan considers the four islands of the Kuril chain to be its territory and the proposal Russian President does not correspond to the Japanese position.
Why these islands are so important to the Japanese and why we need them, explained our political consultant Anatoly WASSERMAN.
Japan claims four islands in the southern part of the Kuril chain - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, referring to the bilateral treatise on trade and borders of 1855. We stand on the fact that the South Kuriles became part of the USSR, the successor of which was Russia, following the results of the Second World War. And Russian sovereignty over them is beyond doubt. But because of Khrushchev's stupidity, we still have to chew this Japanese gum for a long time. Let me explain.
The Japanese need the Kuriles for two reasons.
Firstly, there are a lot of natural values on the South Kuril Islands and in the ocean around them: rare expensive metals, a damn lot of all kinds of fish and aquatic animals that our fishermen catch and immediately resell to the Japanese, without even entering the ports. For us, this living creature is of no significant value, but for the Japanese it is - that for Ukrainians it is a daily fat. Not to mention natural resources, of which Japan, in principle, is too scarce.
The second reason is prestige. Japan is very upset to lose their territories. Although America did not formally take anything from Japan as a result of World War II, Okinawa is the most large island Japanese archipelago Ryukyu - for several decades turned out to be an American base and remained under US jurisdiction. We actually took away from them not only the southern part of Sakhalin, which they took from us after the Russo-Japanese War, but also the Kuril Islands - Russia left them to Japan in 1867.
In 1956, he was the first to do something stupid Nikita Khrushchev, promising to give up the island of Shikotan and a group of small Habomai islands as a carrot in front of their noses after the conclusion of a peace treaty. Behind him, the promise to give up the islands, subject to the signing of a peace agreement, was repeated Gorbachev and Yeltsin. The Japanese clung to the vague wording and changed the course of action: first, give up the islands, and then we will sign agreements. Moreover, two more islands were added to the islands promised by Khrushchev - Kunashir and Iturup.
In this case, we are deprived of the most convenient navigational approaches to the Pacific Ocean in the southern part of the Kuril chain, which will greatly complicate our entire Pacific navigation. In addition, for Russia, the return of these islands is an absolutely catastrophic loss of prestige. For yet Suvorov developed a formula: what is taken from the battle is sacred. For us, these islands are a war trophy, and the military has such a sign: to give a trophy means to be defeated in the next war.
For the Japanese, the Kuriles are revenge for the defeat in World War II, and for us, it is confirmation that we are still a great power. Therefore, the issue is not expected to be resolved in the near future.
Equipping these islands is also impractical: they are too small and isolated from the world by storms for most of the year. It would be possible to build shift camps for seasonal work there. For example, fish processing bases, mines for the extraction of rare metals, laboratories, to create transshipment bases for cargo there. But workers need infrastructure, and maintaining it is too costly.
However, militarily, the Kuriles provide us with access to the Pacific Ocean and at the same time block the approach of the military forces of a potential enemy. There are now located radar systems that provide surveillance of the Pacific waters. Losing them is extremely dangerous for us.
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East fact
Until 1855, the Three Sisters (Kunashir), Citron (Iturup), Figured (Shikotan) and Green (Khabomai) were part of the Russian Empire, and then, according to the Japanese-Russian treatise on trade and borders (“Shimodsky treatise”), they were given Japan. After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the islands returned to the jurisdiction of the USSR.
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KURILE ISLANDS- a chain of volcanic islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) and about. Hokkaido (Japan); separates the Sea of Okhotsk from Pacific Ocean. Are part of Sakhalin region (the Russian Federation). The length is about 1200 km. The area is about 15.6 thousand km2. They consist of two parallel ridges of islands - the Greater Kuril and Lesser Kuril (Shikotan, Khabomai, etc.).
The Great Kuril Ridge is divided into 3 groups: southern (Kunashir, Iturup, Urup, etc.), middle (Simushir, Ketoi, Ushishir, etc.) and northern (Traps, Shiashkotan, Onekotan, Paramushir, etc.). Most of the islands are mountainous (height 2339 m). About 40 active volcanoes; hot mineral springs, high seismicity. On the southern islands - forests; the northern ones are covered with tundra vegetation. Fishing (chum salmon, etc.) and sea animals (nerpa, sea lions, etc.).
URUP, an island in the Kuril Islands group, territory of the Russian Federation. OK. 1.4 thousand km2. Consists of 25 volcanoes connected by bases. Height up to 1426 m. 2 active volcanoes (Trident and Berga).
ITURUP, the largest in area (6725 km2) island in the group of the Kuril Islands (Russian Federation, Sakhalin region). Volcanic massif (height up to 1634 m). Thickets of bamboo, spruce-fir forests, elfin. On Iturup - Kurilsk.
KUNASHIR, an island in the Kuril Islands group. OK. 1550 km2. Altitude up to 1819 m. active volcanoes(Tyatya and others) and hot springs. Pos. Yuzhno-Kurilsk. Reserve Kuril.
SHIKOTAN, most big Island in the Lesser Kuril Ridge. 182 km2. Height up to 412 m. Settlements— Malokurilskoye and Krabozavodskoye. Fishing. Harvest of marine animals.
The territory of the disputed islands of the Kuril archipelago.
Borders between Russia and Japan in the Kuril Islands region.
Russian navigators Captain Spanberg and Lieutenant Walton in 1739 were the first Europeans to open the way to the eastern shores of Japan, visited the Japanese islands of Hondo (Honshu) and Matsmae (Hokkaido), described the Kuril ridge and mapped all the Kuril Islands and east coast Sakhalin. The expedition found that under the rule of the Japanese Khan [ emperor?] there is only one island of Hokkaido, the rest of the islands are not subject to it. Since the 1960s, interest in the Kuril Islands has noticeably increased, Russian fishing vessels are increasingly mooring to their shores, and soon the local population (Ainu) on the islands of Urup and Iturup was brought into Russian citizenship. Merchant D. Shebalin was instructed by the office of the port of Okhotsk "to convert the inhabitants of southern islands and start bargaining with them. "Having brought the Ainu to Russian citizenship, the Russians founded winter huts, camps on the islands, taught the Ainu how to use firearms, raise cattle and grow some vegetables. Many of the Ainu converted to Orthodoxy and learned to read and write. At the behest of Catherine II in 1779 all fees that were not established by decrees from St. Petersburg were canceled.Thus, the fact of the discovery and development of the Kuril Islands by the Russians is undeniable.
Over time, the trades in the Kuriles were depleted, becoming less and less profitable than off the coast of America, and therefore, by the end of the 18th century, the interest of Russian merchants in the Kuriles had weakened. In Japan, by the end of the same century, interest in the Kuriles and Sakhalin was just awakening, because before that the Kurils were practically unknown to the Japanese. The island of Hokkaido - according to the Japanese scientists themselves - was considered a foreign territory and only a small part of it was inhabited and developed. In the late 70s, Russian merchants reached Hokkaido and tried to start trading with local residents. Russia was interested in acquiring food in Japan for Russian fishing expeditions and settlements in Alaska and the Pacific Islands, but it was not possible to start trade, as it prohibited the law on isolation of Japan in 1639, which read: "For the future, until the sun illuminates world, no one has the right to land on the shores of Japan, even if he were an envoy, and this law can never be repealed by anyone on pain of death. And in 1788, Catherine II sent a strict order to Russian industrialists in the Kuriles so that they "do not touch the islands under the jurisdiction of other powers," and a year before that, she issued a decree on equipment round the world expedition for an accurate description and mapping of the islands from Masmaya to Kamchatka Lopatka, in order to "formally classify them all as the possession of the Russian state." Blyo is ordered not to allow foreign industrialists to "trade and industries in belonging to Russia treat local residents peacefully." But the expedition did not take place due to the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war [ refers to the war of 1787-1791].
Taking advantage of the weakening of Russian positions in the southern part of the Kuril Islands, Japanese fishermen first appear in Kunashir in 1799, and the next year on Iturup, where they destroy Russian crosses and illegally set up a pillar with a sign indicating that the islands belong to Japan. Japanese fishermen often began to arrive on the shores of South Sakhalin, fished, robbed the Ainu, which was the reason for frequent skirmishes between them. In 1805, Russian sailors from the frigate "Yunona" and the tender "Avos" on the shore of Aniva Bay set up a pillar with Russian flag, and the Japanese camp on Iturup was devastated. The Russians were warmly welcomed by the Ainu.
In 1854, in order to establish trade and diplomatic relations with Japan, the government of Nicholas I sent Vice Admiral E. Putyatin. His mission also included the delimitation of Russian and Japanese possessions. Russia demanded recognition of its rights to the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which had long belonged to it. Knowing perfectly well what a difficult situation Russia found itself in, waging a war with three powers in the Crimea at the same time, Japan put forward unfounded claims to the southern part of Sakhalin. At the beginning of 1855, in Shimoda, Putyatin signed the first Russian-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship, according to which Sakhalin was declared undivided between Russia and Japan, the border was established between the islands of Iturup and Urup, and the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate were opened for Russian ships and Nagasaki. The Shimoda Treaty of 1855 in Article 2 defines:
“From now on, the border between the Japanese state and Russia will be established between the island of Iturup and the island of Urup. The entire island of Iturup belongs to Japan, the entire island of Urup and the Kuril Islands to the north of it belong to Russia. As for the island of Karafuto (Sakhalin), the border between Japan and Russia is still not divided.
In our time, the Japanese side claims that this treaty comprehensively took into account the activities of Japan and Russia in the region of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands up to the time of its conclusion and was concluded as a result of negotiations between Japan and Russia in a peaceful atmosphere. The plenipotentiary representative of the Russian side at the talks, Admiral Putyatin, when signing the treaty, said: "In order to prevent future disputes, as a result of careful study, it was confirmed that Iturup Island is Japanese territory." Documents recently published in Russia show that Nicholas I considered Urup Island to be the southern limit of Russian territory.
The Japanese side considers erroneous the assertion that Japan imposed this treatise on Russia, which was in a difficult position during the Crimean War. It is completely contrary to the facts. At that time, Russia was one of the great European powers, while Japan was a small and weak country that the US, England and Russia forced to abandon the 300-year policy of self-isolation of the country.
Japan also considers erroneous the assertion that Russia allegedly has "historical rights" to the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai ridge, confirmed by this treatise as a Japanese possession, by virtue of their discovery and expeditions. As mentioned above, both Nicholas I and Admiral E.V. Putyatin (1803-1883+) concluded a treaty on the basis of the then objective situation, realizing that the southern limit of Russia was the island of Urup, and Iturup and to the south of it were the territory of Japan. Beginning in 1855, for more than 90 years, neither Tsarist Russia nor the Soviet Union ever insisted on these so-called "historical rights."
For Japan, there was no need to discover these islands, located at the shortest distance from it and visible from Hokkaido to the naked eye. On the map of the Shoho era, published in Japan in 1644, the names of the islands Kunashir and Iturup are recorded. Japan ruled these islands before anyone else. Actually, Japan substantiates its claims to the so-called "Northern Territories" precisely by the content of the Shimodsky treaty of 1855 and by the fact that until 1946 the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and the Habomai ridge were always territories of Japan and never became territories of Russia.
The government of Alexander II made the Middle East and Central Asia the main direction of its policy and, fearing to leave its relations with Japan uncertain in the event of a new aggravation of relations with England, agreed to sign the so-called Petersburg Treaty of 1875, according to which all the Kuril Islands in exchange for the recognition of Sakhalin Russian territory passed to Japan. Alexander II, who had previously sold Alaska in 1867 for a symbolic and at that time amount of 11 million rubles, made a big mistake this time by underestimating the strategic importance of the Kuril Islands, which were later used by Japan for aggression against Russia. The tsar naively believed that Japan would become a peace-loving and calm neighbor of Russia, and when the Japanese, substantiating their claims, refer to the treaty of 1875, they for some reason forget (as G. Kunadze "forgot" today) about his first article: ".. ... and henceforth eternal peace and friendship will be established between the Russian and Japanese empires."
Then there was 1904, when Japan treacherously attacked Russia... At the conclusion of the peace treaty in Portsmouth in 1905, the Japanese side demanded from Russia as an indemnity the island of Sakhalin. The Russian side then stated that this was contrary to the 1875 treaty. What did the Japanese say to this?
- The war crosses out all agreements, you have been defeated and let's proceed from the current situation.
Only thanks to skillful diplomatic maneuvers did Russia manage to keep the northern part of Sakhalin for itself, and South Sakhalin went to Japan.
At the Yalta Conference of the Heads of Powers, the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition, held in February 1945, it was decided after the end of the Second World War that South Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands be transferred to the Soviet Union, and this was the condition for the USSR to enter the war with Japan - three months after end of the war in Europe.
On September 8, 1951, 49 states signed a peace treaty with Japan in San Francisco. The draft treaty was prepared during the Cold War without the participation of the USSR and in violation of the principles of the Potsdam Declaration. The Soviet side proposed to carry out demilitarization and ensure the democratization of the country. Representatives of the United States and Great Britain told our delegation that they had come here not to discuss, but to sign the treaty, and therefore they would not change a single line. The USSR, and with it Poland and Czechoslovakia, refused to sign the treaty. And interestingly, Article 2 of this treaty states that Japan waives all rights and title to Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands. So Japan herself
renounced territorial claims to our country, backing it up with her signature.
At present, the Japanese side claims that the islands of Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and the Habomai ridge, which have always been Japanese territory, are not included in the Kuril Islands, which Japan abandoned. The US government, regarding the scope of the “Kuril Islands” concept in the San Francisco Peace Treaty, stated in an official document: “(They) do not include and there was no intention to include (in the Kuriles) the Habomai and Shikotan ridges, or Kunashir and Iturup, which previously have always been part of Japan proper and therefore must rightly be recognized as being under Japanese sovereignty."
1956, Soviet-Japanese negotiations on the normalization of relations between the two countries. The Soviet side agrees to cede the two islands of Shikotan and Habomai to Japan and offers to sign a peace treaty. The Japanese side is inclined to accept the Soviet proposal, but in September 1956 the United States sends a note to Japan stating that if Japan renounces its claims to Kunashir and Iturup and is satisfied with only two islands, then in this case the United States will not give up the Ryukyu Islands where the main island is Okinawa. American intervention played its part and... the Japanese refused to sign a peace treaty on our terms. The subsequent security treaty (1960) between the US and Japan made it impossible to transfer Shikotan and Habomai to Japan. Our country, of course, could not give the islands to American bases, nor could it bind itself to any obligations to Japan on the issue of the Kuriles.
A worthy answer about the territorial claims to us from Japan was given at the time by A.N. Kosygin:
- The borders between the USSR and Japan should be considered as the result of the Second World War.
This could be put an end to, but I would like to remind you that just 6 years ago, M.S. Gorbachev, at a meeting with a delegation from the SPJ, also strongly opposed the revision of borders, while emphasizing that the borders between the USSR and Japan were "legal and legally justified" .
