Iturup kunashir shikotan and habomai square. Do Russians need Habomai? or how not to lose the Far East! The essence of the dispute between Japan and Russia

Statement Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the intention to resolve the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands and again drew the attention of the general public to the so-called "problem of the South Kuriles" or "northern territories".

The loud statement of Shinzo Abe, however, does not contain the main thing - original solution which could suit both parties.

Land of the Ainu

The dispute over the South Kuriles has its roots in the 17th century, when there were no Russians or Japanese on the Kuril Islands yet.

The Ainu can be considered the indigenous population of the islands - a nation whose origin scientists argue to this day. The Ainu, who once inhabited not only the Kuriles, but also all the Japanese islands, as well as the lower reaches of the Amur, Sakhalin and the south of Kamchatka, today have become a small nation. In Japan, according to official figures, there are about 25 thousand Ainu, and in Russia there are just over a hundred of them left.

The first mention of the islands in Japanese sources dates back to 1635, in Russian - 1644.

In 1711, a detachment of Kamchatka Cossacks led by Danila Antsiferova and Ivan Kozyrevsky first landed on the northernmost island of Shumshu, defeating a detachment of local Ainu here.

The Japanese also showed more and more activity in the Kuriles, but there was no line of demarcation and no agreements between the countries.

Kuriles - to you, Sakhalin— us

In 1855, the Shimoda Treaty on Trade and Borders between Russia and Japan was signed. This document for the first time defined the border of the possessions of the two countries in the Kuriles - it passed between the islands of Iturup and Urup.

Thus, the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group of islands, that is, the very territories around which there is a dispute today, were under the rule of the Japanese emperor.

It was the day of the conclusion of the Shimoda Treaty, February 7, that was declared in Japan as the so-called "Day of the Northern Territories".

Relations between the two countries were quite good, but they were spoiled by the “Sakhalin issue”. The fact is that the Japanese claimed the southern part of this island.

In 1875, a new treaty was signed in St. Petersburg, according to which Japan renounced all claims to Sakhalin in exchange for the Kuril Islands - both Southern and Northern.

Perhaps, it was after the conclusion of the 1875 treaty that relations between the two countries developed most harmoniously.

Exorbitant appetites of the Land of the Rising Sun

Harmony in international affairs, however, is a fragile thing. Japan, emerging from centuries of self-isolation, developed rapidly, and at the same time, ambitions grew. The Land of the Rising Sun has territorial claims against almost all of its neighbors, including Russia.

This resulted in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which ended in a humiliating defeat for Russia. And although Russian diplomacy managed to mitigate the consequences of military failure, but, nevertheless, in accordance with the Portsmouth Treaty, Russia lost control not only over the Kuriles, but also over South Sakhalin.

This state of affairs did not suit not only tsarist Russia, but also the Soviet Union. However, it was impossible to change the situation in the mid-1920s, which resulted in the signing of the Beijing Treaty between the USSR and Japan in 1925, according to which the Soviet Union recognized the status quo, but refused to recognize “political responsibility” for the Treaty of Portsmouth.

In subsequent years, relations between the Soviet Union and Japan teetered on the brink of war. Japan's appetites grew and began to spread to the continental territories of the USSR. True, the Japanese defeats at Lake Khasan in 1938 and at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 forced official Tokyo to slow down somewhat.

However, the "Japanese threat" hung like a sword of Damocles over the USSR during the Great Patriotic War.

Revenge for old grievances

By 1945, the tone of Japanese politicians towards the USSR had changed. There was no talk of new territorial acquisitions - the Japanese side would be quite satisfied with the preservation of the existing order of things.

But the USSR gave an obligation to Great Britain and the United States that it would enter the war with Japan no later than three months after the end of the war in Europe.

The Soviet leadership had no reason to feel sorry for Japan - Tokyo behaved too aggressively and defiantly towards the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s. And the insults of the beginning of the century were not forgotten at all.

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. It was a real blitzkrieg - the millionth Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria was utterly defeated in a matter of days.

On August 18, Soviet troops launched the Kuril landing operation, the purpose of which was to capture the Kuril Islands. Fierce battles unfolded for the island of Shumshu - this was the only battle of a fleeting war in which the losses of the Soviet troops were higher than those of the enemy. However, on August 23, the commander of the Japanese troops in the Northern Kuriles, Lieutenant General Fusaki Tsutsumi, capitulated.

The fall of Shumshu was a key event in the Kuril operation - in the future, the occupation of the islands on which the Japanese garrisons were located turned into acceptance of their surrender.

Kurile Islands. Photo: www.russianlook.com

They took the Kuriles, they could have taken Hokkaido

On August 22, Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Forces in the Far East, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky, without waiting for the fall of Shumshu, gives the order to the troops to occupy the Southern Kuriles. The Soviet command is acting according to plan - the war continues, the enemy has not capitulated completely, which means that we should move on.

The initial military plans of the USSR were much broader - Soviet units were ready to land on the island of Hokkaido, which was supposed to become a Soviet zone of occupation. How the further history of Japan would develop in this case, one can only guess. But in the end, Vasilevsky received an order from Moscow to cancel the landing operation in Hokkaido.

The bad weather somewhat delayed the actions of the Soviet troops in the South Kuriles, but by September 1, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan came under their control. The Habomai group of islands was completely taken under control on September 2-4, 1945, that is, after the surrender of Japan. There were no battles during this period - Japanese soldiers meekly surrendered.

So, at the end of the Second World War, Japan was completely occupied by the allied powers, and the main territories of the country fell under the control of the United States.

Kurile Islands. Photo: Shutterstock.com

On January 29, 1946, by Memorandum No. 677 of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur, the Kuril Islands (Chishima Islands), the Habomai (Khabomadze) island group and Sikotan Island were excluded from the territory of Japan.

On February 2, 1946, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was formed in these territories as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR, which on January 2, 1947 became part of the newly formed Sakhalin Region as part of the RSFSR.

Thus, de facto South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands passed to Russia.

Why the USSR did not sign a peace treaty with Japan

However, these territorial changes were not formalized by a treaty between the two countries. BUT political situation in the world has changed, and yesterday's ally of the USSR, the United States, has become the closest friend and ally of Japan, and therefore was not interested in either resolving Soviet-Japanese relations or resolving the territorial issue between the two countries.

In 1951, a peace treaty was concluded in San Francisco between Japan and the countries anti-Hitler coalition which the USSR did not sign.

The reason for this was the US revision of previous agreements with the USSR reached in the Yalta Agreement of 1945 - now official Washington believed that the Soviet Union had no rights not only to the Kuriles, but also to South Sakhalin. In any case, it was precisely such a resolution that was adopted by the US Senate during the discussion of the treaty.

However, in the final version of the San Francisco Treaty, Japan renounces the rights to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. But here, too, there is a hitch - the official Tokyo both then and now declares that it does not consider that Habomai, Kunashir, Iturup and Shikotan are part of the Kuriles.

That is, the Japanese are sure that they really renounced South Sakhalin, but they never abandoned the “northern territories”.

The Soviet Union refused to sign a peace treaty, not only because of the unsettledness of its territorial disputes with Japan, but also because it did not resolve similar disputes between Japan and China, then an ally of the USSR, in any way.

Compromise ruined Washington

Only five years later, in 1956, was the Soviet-Japanese declaration on the cessation of the state of war signed, which was supposed to be the prologue to the conclusion of a peace treaty.

A compromise solution was also announced - the islands of Habomai and Shikotan would be returned to Japan in exchange for the unconditional recognition of the sovereignty of the USSR over all other disputed territories. But this could happen only after the conclusion of a peace treaty.

In fact, these conditions suited Japan quite well, but here a “third force” intervened. The United States was not at all pleased with the prospect of establishing relations between the USSR and Japan. The territorial problem acted as an excellent wedge driven between Moscow and Tokyo, and Washington considered its resolution highly undesirable.

It was announced to the Japanese authorities that if a compromise was reached with the USSR on the "Kuril problem" on the terms of the division of the islands, the United States would leave the island of Okinawa and the entire Ryukyu archipelago under its sovereignty.

The threat was truly terrible for the Japanese - it was a territory with more than a million people, which is of great historical importance for Japan.

As a result, a possible compromise on the issue of the South Kuriles vanished like smoke, and with it the prospect of concluding a full-fledged peace treaty.

By the way, control of Okinawa finally passed to Japan only in 1972. At the same time, 18 percent of the island's territory is still occupied by American military bases.

Complete stalemate

In fact, no progress has been made in the territorial dispute since 1956. In the Soviet period, without reaching a compromise, the USSR came to the tactic of completely denying any dispute in principle.

In the post-Soviet period, Japan began to hope that Russian President Boris Yeltsin, generous with gifts, would give away the "northern territories." Moreover, such a decision was considered fair by very prominent figures in Russia - for example, Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Perhaps at this point, the Japanese side made a mistake, instead of compromise options like the one discussed in 1956, insisting on the transfer of all disputed islands.

But in Russia, the pendulum has already swung the other way, and those who consider it impossible to transfer even one island are much louder today.

For both Japan and Russia, the "Kuril issue" over the past decades has become a matter of principle. For both Russian and Japanese politicians, the slightest concessions threaten, if not the collapse of their careers, then serious electoral losses.

Therefore, the declared desire of Shinzo Abe to solve the problem is undoubtedly commendable, but completely unrealistic.

(Picture from here: http://www.27region.ru/news/index.php/newscat/worldnews/19908-----l-r-)

“Japan claims four islands in the Kuril chain - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, referring to the bilateral Treatise on Trade and Borders of 1855. Moscow's position is that the southern Kuriles became part of the USSR (of which Russia became the successor) following the results of the Second World War, and Russian sovereignty over them, having the appropriate international legal design, is beyond doubt.

(Source: Korrespondent.net, 02/08/2011)

A bit of history (which was researched and published by A.M. Ivanov here - http://www.pagan.ru/lib/books/history/ist2/wojny/kurily.php)

“50s of the 19th century - the period of the “discovery of Japan” by the Americans and Russians. The representative of Russia was Rear Admiral E.V. Putyatin, who arrived on the frigate Pallada, who, in a letter to the Japanese Supreme Council dated November 6, 1853, insisted on the need for a distinction, pointing out that Iturup belongs to Russia, since it has long been visited by Russian industrialists who, long before the Japanese, created there their settlements. The border was supposed to be drawn along the La Perouse Strait "

(E.Ya. Fainberg. Russian-Japanese relations in 1697-1875, M., 1960, p. 155).

Article 2 of the "Russian-Japanese Treaty on Trade and Borders" dated January 26 (February 7), 1855, signed by the parties in the city of Shimoda, states: “From now on, the borders between Russia and Japan will pass between the islands of Iturup and Urup. The whole island of Iturup belongs to Japan, and the whole island of Urup and the rest of the Kuril Islands to the north are the possessions of Russia. As for the island of Crafto (Sakhalin), it remains undivided between Russia and Japan, as it has been until now.(Yu.V. Klyuchnikov and A.V. Sabanin. Modern international politics in treaties, notes and declarations. Part I. M., 1925. pp. 168-169). See picture above.

But on April 25 (May 7), 1875, the Japanese forced Russia, weakened by the Crimean War of 1953-1956, to sign an agreement in St. Petersburg, according to which:

« In return for the cession of Russia's rights to the island of Sakhalin ... His Majesty the Emperor of All Russia ... cedes to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan the group of islands called the Kuril Islands, which he owns, so that from now on the said group of Kuril Islands will belong to the Japanese Empire. This group includes the following 18 islands (a list follows), so that the boundary line between the Russian and Japanese empires in these waters will pass through the strait located between Cape Lopatka of the Kamchatka Peninsula and Shumshu Island.

(Yu.V. Klyuchnikov and A.V. Sabanin. Modern international politics in treaties, notes and declarations. Part I, M., 1925, p.214)

To make it clear, it should be explained that at that time, the southern part of Sakhalin Island belonged to the Japanese, and the north - Russia (by the way, both La Perouse and Kruzenshtern considered Sakhalin a peninsula).

“On the night of August 8-9, 1945, the USSR violated its obligations related to the neutrality pact and started a war against Japan, although there was no threat to Russia from its side, and captured Manchuria, Port Arthur, South Sakhalin and the Kuril islands. A landing on Hokkaido was also being prepared, but the Americans intervened, and the occupation of the island of Hokkaido by the Red Army was not put into practice.

After the war, the question arose of concluding a peace treaty with Japan. In accordance with international law, only a peace treaty draws a final line under the war, finally resolves all disputes between former enemies, finally settles territorial problems, clarifies and establishes state borders. All other decisions, documents, acts are just a prelude to a peace treaty, its preparation.

In this sense, the Yalta Agreement between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt is not yet the final solution to the problem of the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin, but only a "protocol of intentions" of the allies in the war, a statement of their positions and a promise to pursue a certain line in the future, in the preparation of a peace treaty . In any case, there is no reason to believe that the problem of the Kuril Islands was already resolved at Yalta in 1945. It must finally be resolved only in a peace treaty with Japan. And nowhere else...
Some say that if four islands are returned to Japan, then Alaska must be returned to Russia. But what kind of return can we talk about, if Alaska was sold to the USA in 1867, the contract of sale was signed, the money was received. Today, one can only regret this, but all the talk about the return of Alaska has no basis.

Therefore, there is no reason to fear that the possible return of the four Kuril Islands to Japan will set off a chain reaction of activity in Europe.

It must also be understood that this is not a revision of the results of the Second World War, because the Russian-Japanese border is not internationally recognized: the results of the war have not yet been summed up, the passage of the border has not yet been recorded. Today, not only the four southern Kuril Islands, but all the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin below the 50th parallel do not legally belong to Russia. They are still occupied territory to this day. Unfortunately, the truth - historical, moral and, most importantly, legal - is not on the side of Russia.

Nevertheless, when negotiations were underway in London on the normalization of Soviet-Japanese relations in 1955, the Soviet delegation agreed to include in the draft peace treaty an article on the transfer of the islands of the Lesser Kuril ridge (Habomai and Sikotan) to Japan, which was reflected in a joint declaration signed after stay of the Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama in Moscow on October 13-19, 1956:

"The USSR, meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer of the Habomai Islands and the Shikotan Islands to Japan, however, that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will be made after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty between the USSR and Japan."

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kurile Islands - a chain of islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean in a slightly convex arc. The length is about 1200 km. total area— 10.5 thousand sq. km.

The islands are extremely unevenly populated. The population lives permanently only in Paramushir, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan. There is no permanent population on the other islands. At the beginning of 2010, there are 19 settlements: two cities (Severo-Kurilsk, Kurilsk), an urban-type settlement (Yuzhno-Kurilsk) and 16 villages.

The maximum value of the population was noted in 1989 and amounted to 29.5 thousand people(excluding conscripts).

Urup
Island of the southern group of the Great Ridge of the Kuril Islands. Administratively, it is part of the Kuril city district of the Sakhalin region. Uninhabited.

The island is stretched from northeast to southwest for 116 km. with a width of up to 20 km. Area 1450 sq. km. The relief is mountainous, heights up to 1426 m (High Mountain). Between the mountains High and Kosaya of the Krishtofovich ridge, at an altitude of 1016 m, Lake Vysokoe is located. Waterfalls with a maximum height of up to 75 m.

Urup is currently uninhabited. The non-residential settlements of Kastricum and Kompaneyskoye are located on the island.

The Frieze Strait is a strait in the Pacific Ocean that separates Urup Island from Iturup Island. Connects the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean. One of the largest straits of the Kuril chain. The length is about 30 km. The minimum width is 40 km. The maximum depth is over 1300 m. The coast is steep and rocky.

(Today Japan and Russia are separated by the Soviet Strait, the length of which is about 13 km. The width is about 10 km. Maximum depth over 50 m. See picture above)

Iturup
The island is stretched from the northeast to the southwest for 200 km, the width is from 7 to 27 km. Area - 3200 sq. km. Consists of volcanic massifs and mountain ranges. The island has many volcanoes and waterfalls. Iturup is separated by the Friza Strait from Urup Island, located 40 km. to the northeast; Ekaterina Strait - from the island of Kunashir, located 22 km to the south-west.

In the central part of the island on the shores of the Kuril Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk is the city of Kurilsk, in 2010 the population was 1,666.

Rural settlements: Reidovo, Kitovoye, Fishermen, Goryachiye Klyuchi, Burevestnik, Shumi-Gorodok, Gornoe.

Non-residential settlements: Active, Glorious, September, Wind, Hot Waters, Pioneer, Iodny, Lesozavodsky, Berezovka.

Kunashir

The island is stretched from the northeast to the southwest for 123 km, the width is from 7 to 30 km. Area - 1490 sq. km. The structure of Kunashir resembles neighboring Iturup and consists of three mountain ranges. The highest peak is the Tyatya volcano (1819 m) with a regular truncated cone crowned with a wide crater. This beautiful high volcano is located in the northeastern part of the island. Kunashir is separated by the Ekaterina Strait from Iturup Island, located 22 km northeast. The rivers of Kunashir, as elsewhere in the Kuriles, are short and shallow. The longest river is the Tyatina, which originates from the Tyatya volcano. The lakes are predominantly lagoonal (Peschanoe) and caldera (Hot).

In the central part of the island on the shore of the South Kuril Strait is located urban-type settlement Yuzhno-Kurilsk — the administrative center of the Yuzhno-Kuril urban district.In 2010, the population of the village was 6,617 inhabitants..

Non-residential settlements: Sergeevka, Urvitovo, Dokuchaevo, Sernovodsk.

In view of recent events, many inhabitants of the planet are interested in where the Kuril Islands are located, as well as to whom they belong. If there is still no concrete answer to the second question, then the first can be answered quite unambiguously. The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands approximately 1.2 kilometers long. It runs from the Kamchatka Peninsula to an island landmass called Hokkaido. A kind of convex arc, consisting of fifty-six islands, is located in two parallel lines, and also separates the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. The total territorial area is 10,500 km 2. On the south side, the state border between Japan and Russia is stretched.

The lands in question are of inestimable economic and military-strategic importance. Most of them are considered part of the Russian Federation and belong to the Sakhalin region. However, the status of such components of the archipelago, including Shikotan, Kunashir, Iturup, as well as the Habomai group, is disputed by the Japanese authorities, which classifies the listed islands as part of the Hokkaido prefecture. Thus, you can find the Kuril Islands on the map of Russia, but Japan plans to legalize the ownership of some of them. These territories have their own characteristics. For example, the archipelago belongs entirely to the Far North, if you look at legal documents. And this is despite the fact that Shikotan is located in the same latitude as the city of Sochi and Anapa.

Kunashir, Cape Stolbchaty

Climate of the Kuril Islands

Within the area under consideration, a temperate maritime climate prevails, which can be called cool rather than warm. The main impact on climatic conditions is exerted by baric systems, which usually form over the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, the cold Kuril Current, and the Sea of Okhotsk. The southern part of the archipelago is covered by monsoon atmospheric flows, for example, the Asian winter anticyclone also dominates there.

Shikotan Island

It should be noted that the weather on the Kuril Islands is quite changeable. The landscapes of the local latitudes are characterized by less heat supply than the territories of the corresponding latitudes, but in the center of the mainland. Medium subzero temperature in winter it is the same for each island included in the chain, and ranges from -5 to -7 degrees. In winter, prolonged heavy snowfalls, thaws, increased cloudiness and blizzards often occur. In summer, temperature indicators vary from +10 to +16 degrees. The further south the island is located, the higher the air temperature will be.

The main factor influencing the summer temperature index is the nature of the hydrological circulation characteristic of coastal waters.

If we consider the components of the middle and northern group of islands, it is worth noting that the temperature of coastal waters there does not rise above five to six degrees, therefore, these territories are characterized by the lowest summer rate for the Northern Hemisphere. During the year, the archipelago receives from 1000 to 1400 mm of precipitation, which is evenly distributed over the seasons. You can also talk about ubiquitous excess moisture. On the southern side of the chain in summer, the humidity index exceeds ninety percent, due to which fogs dense in consistency appear. If you carefully consider the latitudes where the Kuril Islands are located on the map, we can conclude that the area is particularly difficult. It is regularly affected by cyclones, which are accompanied by excessive precipitation, and can also cause typhoons.

Simushir Island

Population

Territories are populated unevenly. The population of the Kuril Islands lives year-round in Shikotan, Kunashir, Paramushir and Iturup. There is no permanent population in other parts of the archipelago. In total, there are nineteen settlements, including sixteen villages, an urban-type settlement called Yuzhno-Kurilsk, as well as two large cities, including Kurilsk and Severo-Kurilsk. In 1989, the maximum value of the population was recorded, which was equal to 30,000 people.

The high population of the territories during the Soviet Union is due to subsidies from those regions, as well as a large number of military personnel who inhabited the islands of Simushir, Shumshu and so on.

By 2010, the rate had dropped significantly. In total, 18,700 people occupied the territory, of which approximately 6,100 live within the Kuril District, and 10,300 in the South Kuril District. The rest of the people occupied the local villages. The population has decreased significantly due to the remoteness of the archipelago, but the climate of the Kuril Islands also played its role, which not every person can withstand.

Uninhabited Ushishir Islands

How to get to the Kuriles

The easiest way to get here is by air. The local airport called Iturup is considered one of the most important aviation facilities built from scratch in post-Soviet times. It was built and equipped in accordance with modern technological requirements, so it was given the status of an international air point. The first flight, which later became regular, was accepted on September 22, 2014. They became the plane of the company "Aurora", which arrived from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. There were fifty passengers on board. This event was negatively perceived by the Japanese authorities, who attribute this territory to their country. Therefore, disputes about who owns the Kuril Islands continue to this day.

It is worth noting that a trip to the Kuriles must be planned in advance. Route planning should take into account that the total archipelago includes fifty-six islands, among which Iturup and Kunashir are the most popular. There are two ways to get to them. It is most convenient to fly by plane, but tickets should be bought a few months before the scheduled date, since there are quite a few flights. The second way is a trip by boat from the port of Korsakov. The journey takes from 18 to 24 hours, but you can buy a ticket only at the box office of the Kuriles or Sakhalin, that is, online sales are not provided.

Urup is an uninhabited island of volcanic origin

Interesting Facts

Despite all the difficulties, life on the Kuril Islands is developing and growing. The history of the territories began in 1643, when several sections of the archipelago were surveyed by Marten Fries and his team. The first information received by Russian scientists dates back to 1697, when V. Atlasov's campaign across Kamchatka took place. All subsequent expeditions led by I. Kozyrevsky, F. Luzhin, M. Shpanberg and others were aimed at systematic development of the area. After it became clear who discovered the Kuril Islands, you can familiarize yourself with several interesting facts associated with the archipelago:

To get to the Kuriles, a tourist will need a special permit, since the zone is a border zone. This document is issued exclusively by the border department of the FSB of Sakhalinsk. To do this, you will need to come to the institution at 9:30 - 10:30 with your passport. The permit will be ready the very next day. Therefore, the traveler will definitely stay in the city for one day, which should be taken into account when planning a trip.
Due to the unpredictable climate, visiting the islands, you can get stuck here for a long time, because in case of bad weather, the airport of the Kuril Islands and their ports stop working. Frequent obstacles are high clouds and nebula. At the same time, we are not talking about a couple of hour flight delays. The traveler should always be prepared to spend an extra week or two here.
All five hotels are open for guests of the Kuriles. The hotel called "Vostok" is designed for eleven rooms, "Iceberg" - three rooms, "Flagship" - seven rooms, "Iturup" - 38 rooms, "Island" - eleven rooms. Reservations must be made in advance.
Japanese lands can be seen from the windows of local residents, but the best view opens on Kunashir. To verify this fact, the weather must be clear.
The Japanese past is closely connected with these territories. Japanese cemeteries and factories remained here, the coast from the Pacific Ocean is densely lined with fragments of Japanese porcelain, which existed even before the war. Therefore, here you can often meet archaeologists or collectors.
It is also worth understanding that the disputed Kuril Islands, first of all, are volcanoes. Their territories consist of 160 volcanoes, of which about forty remain active.
The local flora and fauna is amazing. Bamboo grows here along the highways, magnolia or mulberry tree can grow near the Christmas tree. The lands are rich in berries, blueberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, princesses, redberries, Chinese magnolia vines, blueberries and so on grow abundantly here. Locals say that you can meet a bear here, especially near the Tyati Kunashir volcano.
Almost every local resident has a car at his disposal, but there are no gas stations in any of the settlements. Fuel is delivered inside special barrels from Vladivostok and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Due to the high seismicity of the region, its territory is built up mainly with two- and three-story buildings. Houses with a height of five floors are already considered skyscrapers and a rarity.
Until it is decided whose Kuril Islands, the Russians living here, the duration of the vacation will be 62 days a year. Residents of the southern ridge can enjoy a visa-free regime with Japan. This opportunity is used by about 400 people per year.

The Great Kuril Arc is surrounded by underwater volcanoes, some of which regularly make themselves felt. Any eruption causes a resumption of seismic activity, which provokes a “seaquake”. Therefore, local lands are subject to frequent tsunamis. The strongest tsunami wave about 30 meters high in 1952 completely destroyed the city on the island of Paramushir called Severo-Kurilsk.

The last century was also remembered for several natural disasters. Among them, the most famous was the 1952 tsunami that occurred in Paramushir, as well as the 1994 Shikotan tsunami. Therefore, it is believed that such a beautiful nature of the Kuril Islands is also very dangerous for human life, but this does not prevent local cities from developing and the population from growing.

In 2012 visa-free exchange between the South Kuriles and Japanwill start April 24th.

On February 2, 1946, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Kuril Islands Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai were included in the USSR.

September 8, 1951 on international conference in San Francisco, a peace treaty was concluded between Japan and 48 countries participating in the anti-fascist coalition, according to which Japan renounced all rights, titles and claims to the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. The Soviet delegation did not sign this treaty, referring to the fact that it regards it as a separate agreement between the US and Japanese governments. From the point of view of treaty law, the question of the ownership of the South Kuriles remained uncertain. The Kuriles ceased to be Japanese, but did not become Soviet. Using this circumstance, Japan in 1955 presented the USSR with claims to all the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin. As a result of two years of negotiations between the USSR and Japan, the positions of the parties drew closer: Japan limited its claims to the islands of Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashir and Iturup.

On October 19, 1956, the Joint Declaration of the USSR and Japan on the termination of the state of war between the two states and the restoration of diplomatic and consular relations was signed in Moscow. In it, in particular, the Soviet government agreed to the transfer of Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty of the islands of Habomai and Shikotan.

After the conclusion of the Japanese-American security treaty in 1960, the USSR canceled the obligations assumed by the 1956 declaration. During the Cold War, Moscow did not recognize the existence of a territorial problem between the two countries. The presence of this problem was first recorded in the Joint Statement of 1991, signed following the visit of the President of the USSR to Tokyo.

In 1993, in Tokyo, the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of Japan signed the Tokyo Declaration on Russian-Japanese Relations, which recorded the agreement of the parties to continue negotiations with the aim of concluding a peace treaty as soon as possible by resolving the issue of ownership of the islands mentioned above.

AT last years In order to create at the talks an atmosphere conducive to the search for mutually acceptable solutions, the parties pay great attention to establishing practical Russian-Japanese interaction and cooperation in the area of the islands.

In 1992, on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement between the inhabitants of the Russian South Kuriles and Japan. Trips are carried out on a national passport with a special insert, without visas.

In September 1999, the implementation of an agreement on the most facilitated procedure for visiting the islands by their former residents from among Japanese citizens and members of their families began.

Cooperation is being carried out in the fishery sector on the basis of the current Russian-Japanese Agreement on fishing near the southern Kuriles dated February 21, 1998.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, Habomai - four words sound like a spell. The Southern Kuriles are the most distant, most mysterious and most problematic islands in the country. Probably every literate citizen of Russia has heard about the “problem of the islands”, although the essence of the problem for many is as vague as the weather in the Far East region. These difficulties only add to the tourist attraction: it is worth seeing Cape World's End, while traveling to it does not require a visa. Although a special permit to visit the border zone is still required.

Cossack Not good and sedentary gilyaks

The islands of Iturup and Kunashir belong to the Greater Kuril Ridge, Shikotan to the Lesser. It is more difficult with Habomai: there is no such name on modern maps, this is the old Japanese designation for the rest of the islands of the Small Ridge. It is used precisely when the “problem of the South Kuriles” is being discussed. Iturup is the largest of all the Kuril Islands, Kunashir is the southernmost of the Greater Kuriles, Shikotan is the northernmost of the Lesser ones. Since Habomai is an archipelago consisting of a dozen small and very small parts of the land, the disputed Kuril Islands are actually not four, but more. Administratively, they all belong to the South Kuril District of the Sakhalin Region. The Japanese attribute them to the Nemuro District of Hokkaido Prefecture.

Entrance stele of the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk on the island of Kunashir in the Kuril chain. Photo: Vladimir Sergeev / ITAR-TASS

The Russian-Japanese territorial dispute is a product of the 20th century, although the question of the ownership of the islands was more open than clearly defined before. The uncertainty is based on the very history of geography: the Kuril ridge, stretching in an arc from Kamchatka to Hokkaido, was discovered by the Japanese and Russians almost simultaneously.

More precisely, some land shrouded in fog north of Hokkaido was discovered back in 1643 by the Dutch expedition of Friz. The Japanese at that time only mastered the north of Hokkaido, sometimes swimming to the neighboring islands. In any case, on the Japanese map of 1644, Iturup and Kunashir were already marked. Around the same time, in 1646, the Yenisei Cossack Nehoroshko Ivanovich Kolobov, an associate of the explorer Ivan Moskovitin, reported to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich that there were islands in the Sea of Okhotsk with "sitting gilyaks" who kept "fed bears." Gilyaks is the Russian name for the Nivkhs, the Far Eastern natives, and "sedentary" means settled. The Nivkhs were the indigenous people of the islands, along with the ancient people of the Ainu. The bear is a totem animal of the Ainu, who specially raised bears for the most important tribal rituals. The word "gilyaks" in relation to the Kuril and Sakhalin aborigines was used until the 19th century, it can be found in Chekhov's "Sakhalin Island". And the name of the Kuriles themselves, according to one version, is reminiscent of smoking volcanoes, and according to another, it goes back to the Ainu language and the root “kur”, meaning “man”.

Kolobov, perhaps, visited the Kuril Islands before the Japanese, but his detachment definitely did not reach the Small Ridge. Only half a century later, Russian navigators sailed to the island of Simushir in the middle of the Kuriles, and moved south already in the time of Peter I. Russian names for them: Figured, Three Sisters and Citron. Most likely, Figured is Shikotan, and Three Sisters and Citron is Iturup, mistaken for two islands.

Decrees, treatises and pacts

As a result of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, forty Kuril Islands were included in the 1745 atlas "General Map of Russia". This position was confirmed in 1772, when the islands were transferred under the control of the chief commander of Kamchatka, and once again secured in 1783 by the decree of Catherine II on the preservation of Russia's right to the lands discovered by Russian navigators. In the Kuriles, free fishing for sea animals was allowed, and Russian settlements began to appear on the islands. The mainland Cossacks collected tribute from the indigenous smokers, periodically going too far. So, in 1771, after the visit of a violent detachment of the Kamchatka centurion Ivan Cherny, the Ainu rebelled and tried to get out of Russian citizenship. But in general, they treated the Russians well - they won against the backdrop of the Japanese, who considered the natives "eastern savages" and fought with them.

A sunken ship in the Yuzhno-Kurilskaya Bay on the Kunashir Island of the Kuril Ridge. Photo: Vladimir Sergeev / ITAR-TASS

Japan, by that time closed to foreigners for a hundred years, naturally had its own views of the islands. But the Japanese have not yet fully mastered even Hokkaido, originally inhabited by the same Ainu, so their practical interest in the South Kuriles flared up only towards the end of the 18th century. Then they officially forbade Russians not only to trade, but simply to appear in Hokkaido, Iturup and Kunashir. A confrontation began on the islands: the Japanese destroyed Russian crosses and put up their own signs in return, the Russians, in turn, corrected the situation, and so on. AT early XIX centuries, the Russian-American campaign was engaged in trade in all the Kuriles, but it was not possible to establish normal ties with Japan.

Finally, in 1855, Russia and Japan signed the first diplomatic treaty, the Shimoda Treaty. The treaty established the Russian-Japanese state border between the islands of Iturup and Urup, and Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the rest of the islands of the Small Ridge went to Japan. The treaty was signed on February 7, and at the end of the 20th century, this day became a public holiday in Japan - the Day of the Northern Territories. The Shimoda treatise is the point from which the “problem of the South Kuriles” has grown.

In addition, the treaty left the much more important island of Sakhalin in an uncertain position for Russia: it remained in the joint possession of both countries, which again gave rise to conflicts and hindered Russian plans to develop coal deposits in the south of the island. For the sake of Sakhalin, Russia went to the "exchange of territories", and under the new Petersburg Treaty of 1875, it transferred to Japan the rights to all the Kuril Islands, gaining full control over Sakhalin. As a result, Russia lost not only the islands, but also access to the Pacific Ocean - the straits from Kamchatka to Hokkaido were now controlled by the Japanese. With Sakhalin, too, it did not turn out too well, since hard labor was immediately established on it, and coal was mined by the hands of convicts. This could not contribute to the normal development of the island.

Shikotan Island. Members of the expedition to the Kuril Islands local residents. 1891. Photo: Patriarche / pastvu.com

The next stage was the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. The Portsmouth Peace Treaty of 1905 canceled all previous agreements: not only the Kuriles, but also the southern half of Sakhalin went to Japan. This position was preserved and even strengthened under the Soviet government, which signed the Beijing Treaty in 1925. The USSR did not recognize itself as the successor Russian Empire and in order to protect his eastern borders from the hostile actions of the "samurai", he agreed to very favorable conditions for Japan. The Bolsheviks had no claims to the Kuriles and the southern part of Sakhalin, and Japanese companies received a concession - the right to develop oil and coal deposits on Soviet territory.

In the years before World War II, the Japanese built many engineering structures and military bases in the Kuriles. These bases almost did not participate in hostilities, except for one case: in 1941, aircraft carriers left Iturup Island, heading for Pearl Harbor. And the Japanese concession in the north of Sakhalin was officially in force until the same 1941, when the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact was concluded. The pact was terminated in August 1945: following the decisions Yalta Conference, the USSR entered the war with Japan, subject to the return of all the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.

Chisima Islands trick

In September 1945, the Kuriles were occupied by Soviet troops who accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrisons. The Memorandum of General MacArthur and the San Francisco Peace Treaty with the Allies confirmed the fact that Japan renounces the rights to all territories received under the Potsdam Treaty of 1905 - Sakhalin and the Chisima Islands.

Shikotan Island. Whaling plant. 1946. Photo: Patriarche / pastvu.com

It was in this formulation that the root of the "island problem" lurked. According to the Japanese version, the historical province of Tisima is Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands north of Kunashir. Kunashir itself, Iturup and the Small Ridge are not among them. Japan thus did not renounce them, and may lay claim to the "Northern Territories" by law. The Soviet side did not sign the treaty, insisting on changing the wording, so Russia and Japan are still legally at war. There is also a joint declaration of 1956, when the USSR promised to transfer Shikotan and Habomai to Japan after the conclusion of peace, and a few years later announced a unilateral rejection of this clause.

The Russian Federation recognizes itself as the legal successor of the USSR and accordingly recognizes the agreements signed by the Soviet Union. Including the declaration of 1956. Bidding for Shikotan and Habomai continues.

island treasures

The main myth about the South Kuriles is the assertion that their loss will lead to the loss of the only non-freezing outlet from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Pacific Ocean through the Friz and Ekaterina straits. The straits do not really freeze, but this does not really matter: most of the Sea of Okhotsk freezes anyway, and without icebreakers, winter navigation is impossible here. Moreover, in any case, Japan cannot restrict passage through the straits, as long as it adheres to international maritime law. In addition, the main routes of the region do not pass through the South Kuriles.

Another myth is the opposite: as if the Southern Kuriles bring more headaches than they have value, and no one will lose anything from their transfer. This is not true. The islands are rich in natural resources, including unique ones. On Iturup, for example, there is an extremely valuable deposit of the rarest rhenium metal on the Kudryavy volcano.

Kunashir Island. Golovnin volcano caldera. Photo: Yury Koshel

But the most obvious Kuril resource is natural. Since 1992, Japanese tourists have been actively traveling here on a visa-free exchange, and Kunashir and Iturup have long become the most popular of all Kuril tourist routes. After all, the Southern Kuriles are an ideal place for ecotourism. The vagaries of the local climate, fraught with the most dangerous cataclysms from eruptions to tsunamis, are redeemed by the pristine beauty of the islands in the ocean.

For more than thirty years, the nature of the Southern Kuriles has an official protected status. The Kurilsky Reserve and the Small Kuriles reserve of federal importance protect most of Kunashir and Shikotan and many other small islands of the Small Ridge. And even a sophisticated traveler will not be indifferent to the ecological routes of the reserve to the Tyatya volcano, to the picturesque mineralized lakes of the caldera of the oldest volcano on the islands of Golovnin, to the thicket of the relict forest along the Stolbovskaya ecotrail, to the fantastic basalt rocks of Cape Stolbchaty, similar to a huge stone organ. And there are also bears of a special gray color, fearless foxes, curious antura seals, graceful Japanese cranes, flocks of many thousands waterfowl on the autumn and spring migrations, dark coniferous forests, where one of the rarest birds on the planet lives - the fish owl, impenetrable thickets of bamboo trees taller than human height, unique wild magnolia, hot springs and icy mountain rivers, "boiling" from flocks of pink salmon coming to spawn.

Kunashir Island. Volcano Tyatya. Photo: Vlada Valchenko

And Kunashir - the “black island” - is the village of Goryachiy Plyazh with thermal springs, the smoking solfatars of the Mendeleev volcano and the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, which in the future may become a new center of Far Eastern tourism. Iturup, the largest of the Kuril Islands, has "snowy subtropics", nine active volcanoes, waterfalls, thermal springs, hot lakes and the Ostrovnoy regional reserve. Shikotan, popular with “wild” hikers, has quaint bays, mountains, seal rookeries and bird colonies. And Cape Edge of the World, where you can meet the freshest dawn in Russia.