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FACTBOX: Putin personally visits Kuril Islands for first time

TASS (Russian state media) · back to the audit

The president personally visited the Kuril Islands for the first time, TASS reported.

Prior to this, the heads of the Russian state and government had visited the Kurils five times altogether.

Dmitry Medvedev made four trips: in 2010 as president, and in 2012, 2015 and 2019 as prime minister.

In 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iturup.

As seen in video footage from the Kremlin press service, Putin visited the Yasny fish processing plant.

The head of state, during his working trip to Iturup, also visited the secondary school named after Hero of Russia Eduard Norpolov.

He inspected the gymnasium and classrooms, the school museum, and spoke with students.

In addition, Putin spontaneously spoke with residents of Iturup.

The president also held a working meeting with Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko.

Japan has expressed a "decisive protest" to Russia over Putin's visit to the Kuril island of Iturup, according to a statement from the head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

The ministry also asserted that all the "northern territories," as Tokyo refers to the southern part of the Kuril Islands, including Iturup, are "inherently [Japanese] territory from both historical and legal points of view."

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized that Russia's sovereignty over these territories, which has the appropriate international legal basis, is beyond doubt.