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DISINFO: There is no doubt Russia has total sovereignty over the Kuril Islands

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Territorial dispute USSR World War II

DISINFO: There is no doubt Russia has total sovereignty over the Kuril Islands

SUMMARY

According to the resolution taken in 1945, the Kuril Islands became part of the Soviet Union. Today, the US State Department puts the results of World War II into question and encourages a tendency for revenge (By requesting Russian citizens born in the Kuril Islands to obtain an American residence permit).

Moscow insists that the aforementioned islands have become part of the Soviet Union legally, based on the results of the Second World War, and are part of Russia’s territory as the successor to the Soviet Union, noting that Russia’s sovereignty over the four islands is not questionable.

RESPONSE

Japan has disputed Russian ownership of the Northern Territories / Southern Kurils since the end of World War II.

The Island chain referred to as the Kuril Islands stretches northeast from Japan’s main northern island of Hokkaido to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.

In 1855, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Shimoda, which gave Japan ownership of the four southern islands and Russia ownership of everything to the north.

After Japan's WW2 surrender but before any deal was signed, the Soviet Union invaded the Southern Kuril islands.

Tokyo has long demanded the islands return, so a peace deal has never been agreed.

The USSR did not sign the 1951 peace treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers where Japan renounced "all right, title and claim to the Kuril Islands", as well as over other possessions”, but did sign a joint declaration ending hostilities and restoring diplomatic relations with Japan in 1956.

High-level negotiations between the two states ensued until the early 1970s when Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev declared that there was no territorial issue.

Until a deal is done on that, the two sides cannot agree on a peace treaty to formally end World War Two's final conflict.

In 2005, the European Parliament urged the return of the aforementioned territories in dispute to Japan.

Read more cases that claim that Poland wishes to annex Lithuanian territory, or that Japanese believe that the Kuril islands are Russian, or that 96% of Crimeans voted to rejoin Russia in a democratic referendum, or that the west tries to revise history.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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