Vladimir Putin’s first visit to the disputed Kuril Islands has turned a long-running territorial argument into a fresh diplomatic confrontation, forcing Japan and Russia to defend sharply incompatible versions of the postwar order.

The immediate response from Tokyo was protest. A conservative account described the trip as drawing a formal Japanese objection, while a liberal report detailed Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi’s summoning of Russia’s ambassador and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s declaration that the visit was “absolutely unacceptable.”¹ Tokyo says the islands—known in Japan as the Northern Territories—belong to Japan “both historically and under international law,” and considers Putin’s appearance there incompatible with its established position.²

Moscow, by contrast, presented the visit as an exercise of undisputed sovereignty. Putin toured a hospital, met residents and visited a caviar-processing plant on Iturup, known in Russia as Etorofu. He later said the four disputed islands were recognised as Russian in international documents and accused Japan of treating Russia as a threat while maintaining territorial claims of its own.²

The dispute reaches back to the Soviet seizure of the islands in the closing weeks of the second world war. It has blocked a formal peace treaty, despite earlier efforts by Shinzo Abe and Putin to revive grave visits and discuss a settlement. Those efforts deteriorated after Japan imposed sanctions on Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The competing narratives also conceal practical stakes: the islands command strategic access and rich fishing grounds, while their sovereignty remains tied to the memories of roughly 17,000 former Japanese residents and the presence of about 20,000 Russian citizens today. Putin’s visit does not resolve that history; it publicly hardens Moscow’s claim and narrows Tokyo’s diplomatic room to maneuver.