The Russian military announced on Tuesday to have deployed a battery of advanced air defence missiles, on the Iturup island, part of the four islands of the Southern Kuril archipelago which falls under Japanese territory. In response, Tokyo has filed an official protest with Moscow through diplomatic channels.
Russia’s Eastern Military District said in a statement that the S-300V4 air defence missile systems were now in combat duty and that the battery deployed was located on what Japan refers to as the Etorofu island. The missiles have an effective range of 400 kms and have been designed to target enemy aircraft and inbound missiles. Russian Defence Minister’s TV station, Zvezda, also broadcasted images of the military conducting exercises using the missiles. This is in line with Russia’s continued build-up on the island and is additional to the shorter-range Tor M2 anti-shipping missile systems and fighter jets deployed there by the Russian military earlier.
Tokyo has been excessively sensitive to Russian activity in the region especially since the islands are strategically important to Japan. Asserting ownership on the Northern Territories, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said at a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday that the recent deployment “contributes to the Russian military build-up on the Northern Territories and conflicts with our country’s position that the islands are our inherent territory”. The archipelago is among one of the international community’s oldest unresolved territorial dispute that has caused friction in Russia and Japan’s bilateral relations and has prevented them from signing a peace treaty.
The disputed region was seized by the Soviet Union forces towards the end of World War II, following Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces, at which point it was referred to as Staten Island, but is now claimed by Japan as part of its Northern Territories. The disputed territories also include three other islands— Kunashir, or Kunashiri, Shikotan and the islet group of Habomai. Etorofu however, is the largest and northernmost island of the southern Kurils, which are located off the coast of Japan’s Hokkaido island and stretch to the Russian far east.
This dispute comes at a time when Japan’s relationship with China has already strained over its major territorial dispute west if Okinawa— the ownership of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea that Beijing claims as its own territories and refers to as the Diyaou islands. With the Russian deployment, Tokyo is now forced to also divest time and resources to monitor developments in the north. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, had spent a significant amount of energy and his time in office to negotiate the issue with Russia but talks had failed. International experts now believe that there is a very slim chance now that Moscow will simply hand over the territories to Tokyo.
Japan Files Official Protest Over Russian Deployment of Defence Equipment on its Territory
Japan has accused the Russian military of deploying a missile battery on its Kuril island.
December 4, 2020
SOURCE: EURASIAN TIMES