Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced today, Wednesday, the deployment of coastal defense missiles in the Kuril Islands, which are disputed with Japan.
The Reuters news agency quoted Shoigu as saying that a group of coastal defense missile systems of the type “Bastion” had been deployed on Paramushir Island, one of the Kuril Islands.
A decades-old dispute
- Japan confirms its adherence to the “Kuril Islands”, which are under the control of Russia, and Tokyo describes them as “Northern Territories”, in the framework of a dispute dating back to the end of World War II.
- The disputed islands are located off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, and are known in Russia as the Kuril Islands, and are among the main causes of tension between the two neighbors.
- The four islands are part of a large marine archipelago rich in rare minerals and resources.
- The “Diplomatic Blue Book 2022” issued by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs states: “The Northern Territories are islands under the sovereignty of Japan, an inalienable part of our territory, and now under illegal occupation by Russia.”
- Moscow responds to the Japanese comments by saying that all four islands bordering Japan will remain an integral part of Russia’s territory.
Warning of a “serious crisis”
Observers fear that the mutual escalation between the two parties will lead to another serious crisis on the sidelines of the Ukraine war, at a time when the threat of a third world war is increasing.
Ihsan al-Shammari, a professor of political science and director of the Center for Political Thinking in Iraq, said earlier to “Sky News Arabia”: “Holding a series of military maneuvers in the vicinity of the Kuril Islands after the outbreak of the Ukrainian war represents, of course, a punishment for Tokyo for aligning itself with the West and joining the ranks of imposing Severe sanctions against Moscow, and Japan’s firm rejection of Russia’s military operation.”
And in the event that tensions between Russia and Japan escalate more than what is happening now, Al-Shammari adds: “China may also enter the line of the flaring crisis around the Kuril Islands, which is biased towards Russia, of course, in the context of the conflicts of influence and control raging in the regions of East and South Asia and in general the Indian and Pacific Oceans region, There is traditional enmity between China and Japan, as is well known.
