Why did the Kuriles actually become Russian? Japan and Russia: who rightfully owns the Kuril Islands of the Kuril Islands.

History of the Kuril Islands

The narrow strait that separates Kunashir from Hokkaido is called the Strait of Treason in Russian. The Japanese have their own opinion on this matter.

The Kuril Islands got their name from the people who inhabited them. “Kuru” in the language of these people meant “man”, “smokers” or “smokers” were called by the Cossacks, and they called themselves “Ainu”, which in meaning did not differ much from “kuru”. The culture of the Kurilians, or Ainu, has been traced by archaeologists for at least 7,000 years. They lived not only in the Kuril Islands, which they called "Kuru-misi", that is, "the land of people", but also on the island of Hokkaido ("Ainu-moshiri"), and in the southern part of Sakhalin. In their appearance, language and customs, they differed significantly both from the Japanese in the south and from the Kamchadals in the north.

A non-Mongoloid type of face, thick hair, a broad beard, pronounced vegetation on the whole body - ethnographers were looking for the ancestral home of the Ainu both in the Caucasus and in Australia. In accordance with one of the latest hypotheses, the Ainu, who have lived on their islands for centuries, are a "splinter" of a special, ancient race.

The Cossacks called them "hairy", and this nickname was used even in official Russian papers. One of the first researchers of Kamchatka, Stepan Krasheninnikov, wrote about the Kurils: “They are incomparably more courteous than other peoples: and at the same time they are constant, upright, ambitious and meek. They speak quietly without interrupting each other's speeches... Old people are held in great respect...”

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In the 17th - 19th centuries, the Japanese had a different name for the island of Hokkaido - Ezo. The term "ezo" in the old days denoted the "northern savages" who did not obey anyone. Gradually, under Ezo in Japan, they began to mean in general all the lands north of about. Hondo (Honshu), including Sakhalin and the Kuriles. The Russians called Hokkaido Matsmai, since in its southwestern part there was a city of the same name built by the Matsumae samurai clan.

One of the first expeditions to the land of Ezo was undertaken by the Japanese in 1635. Presumably, a certain Kinfiro, a translator from the Ainu, who served with the Matsumae feudal lords, took part in it. Whether Kinfiro managed to get to Sakhalin and the Kuriles or received information about them from the Ainu is not known for certain, however, based on the results of his trip in 1644, a map was drawn up, on which, although conditionally, Karafuto (Sakhalin) and Tsisimi were indicated - “a thousand islands "- so the Japanese called the Kuril Islands. Almost at the same time, in 1643, the area of ​​the South Kuriles was explored by the Dutch expedition of Maarten Fries, who were looking for mythical countries rich in gold and silver. The Dutch not only compiled good maps, but also described the lands they discovered (the journal of the senior navigator Cornelius Kuhn has been preserved and published), among which it is easy to recognize Iturup, Kunashir, and other islands of the South Kuriles.

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In Russia, the first information about the Kuril Islands appeared in the reports of Vladimir Atlasov, who in 1697 made the famous campaign against Kamchatka. But the first descriptions of the islands were not compiled by him, but by the Cossack Ivan Kozyrevsky, who, by a sad irony of fate, participated in the murder of Atlasov. In order to beg for forgiveness, Kozyrevsky went to the Kuriles in 1711, but visited only the first two islands - Shumshu and Paramushir, where he asked in detail the "hairy" who lived there. He supplemented his report with information received from the Japanese brought to Kamchatka during a storm in 1710.

In 1719, Peter I sent two surveyors to Kamchatka - Ivan Evreinov and Fyodor Luzhin. Officially - to find out "whether America has converged with Asia." However, the content of the secret instruction they had was obviously different, since the surveyors, against expectations, sent their ship not to the north, but to the south - to the Kuriles and Japan. They managed to pass only half of the ridge: near the island of Simushir, the ship lost its anchor and was thrown back by the winds to Kamchatka. In 1722, Evreinov personally submitted to Peter a report on the expedition and a map of the islands examined.

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In 1738-1739, Martyn Shpanberg, a member of the Bering expedition, went south along the entire Kuril ridge and mapped the islands he encountered. Spanberg's ship rounded Matsmai and anchored off the coast of Hondo - here the first ever meeting of Russians with the Japanese took place. She was quite friendly, though not without mutual wariness. Avoiding risky voyages to the South Kuriles, the Russians mastered the islands closest to Kamchatka, subjugating the "shaggy" and demanding yasak (fur tax) from them with the skins of sea otters. Many did not want to pay yasak and went to distant islands. To keep the Kurilians, the Cossacks took amanats (hostages) from among their children and relatives.

In 1766, at the direction of the Siberian governor, a toyon (leader) from the island of Paramushir Nikita Chikin and a centurion from Kamchatka Ivan Cherny were sent to the southern Kuril Islands. They had to "persuade the Kurils into citizenship, without showing, not only by deed, but also by a sign of rude deeds and anger, but greetings and affection." Chikin himself was one of the "hairy" and easily found a common language with his fellow tribesmen, but, unfortunately, he died suddenly on Simushir and Cherny stood at the head of the party. The centurion went to the 19th island (Iturup), along the way, by force, bringing the "shaggy" into citizenship. From them he learned that the Japanese had a fortress on the 20th (Kunashir). During the winter on the 18th island (Urup) Cherny drank, poached and mocked both his companions - the Cossacks, and the "hairy ones". On the way back, the centurion took with him the "descended" (runaway) smokers, and kept them bound on the ship, which caused many deaths. Cherny's "exploits" did not go unnoticed, he fell under investigation, but died in Irkutsk from smallpox. Embittered by the actions of Chernoy and other merchants, the "hairy" rebelled in 1771 and killed many Russians on the islands of Chirpoi and Urup.

In 1778, the Siberian nobleman Antipin, who was familiar with the Japanese language, was sent to the South Kuriles. On Urup he was joined by the Irkutsk townsman, translator Shabalin. The instructions given by the head of Kamchatka, Matvey Bem, ordered "to establish peaceful relations with the Japanese and the furry ones", and "under the death penalty not to offend the wild, as happened in the Aleutian Islands ...". Antipin and Shabalin managed to win the sympathy and disposition of the "hairy", and in 1778-1779 more than 1,500 smokers from Iturup, Kunashir and Matsmay were brought into Russian citizenship. Contacts with the Japanese were unsuccessful. Strictly adhering to the state policy of self-isolation, Japanese officials gave Antipin a ban not only to trade on Matsmai, but also to go to Iturup and Kunashir. The expedition of Antipin and Shabalin did not continue: in 1780, their ship, anchored off the island of Urup, was thrown onto land by a strong tsunami at a distance of 400 meters from the coast! With great difficulty, sailors managed to return to Kamchatka on canoes ...

In 1779, by her decree, Catherine II freed the Kurilians, who had accepted Russian citizenship, from all taxes. Published in 1787 by the Highest Order of the Empress, “A vast land description of the Russian state ...” contains a list of the Kuril Islands, “of which 21 are now considered under Russian possession ...”. The 21st island was Shikotan, and about the 22nd, Matsmai, it was said that the Japanese have a city on its southern side, and how far their possession extends on the northern side of Matsmai is unknown.

Meanwhile, the Russians had no real control over the islands located south of the 18th (Urup). In the report of the navigator Lovtsov, who visited Matsmai in 1794, it was reported: “The Kuriles, both on the 22nd, and on the 19th, 20th and 21st islands, are revered by the Japanese as their subjects and are used by them in serious work... And from that it is noticeable that all the smokers are extremely dissatisfied with the Japanese... In 1788, in May, one Japanese merchant ship came to Matsmai. The Kurilians made an attack on the ship. All 75 Japanese were killed, and the goods, having taken, were divided. An official was sent from Matsmai - 35 people were executed ... "

In 1799, by order of the central government of Japan, two principalities founded outposts on Kunashir and Iturup, and since 1804, these islands have been constantly guarded.

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An attempt to resume negotiations with the Japanese on trade was made in 1805, when in Nagasaki, the only port in Japan where foreign ships were allowed to enter, the founder of the Russian-American Company (RAC), acting state councilor Nikolai Rezanov, arrived as an ambassador extraordinary. However, his audience with the governor failed. The acts handed over by the Japanese side finally formulated the rejection of trade relations with Russia. As for the Russian ships, they were asked not to stop at anchor and to set off from the Japanese coast as soon as possible. Offended by the refusal, Rezanov made it clear to Japanese officials that the Russian emperor had ways to teach him to respect him. In his report to the tsar, he also reported that the Japanese nobles, suffering from the despotism of the spiritual ruler "dairi", hinted to him, Rezanov, that the Japanese should be "moved" from the north and remove some industry - this would allegedly give the Japanese government an excuse to establish trade relations with Russia... Rezanov instructed Lieutenant Khvostov and Midshipman Davydov to fulfill this "hint", making up an expedition of two vessels.

In 1806, Khvostov expelled the Japanese from Sakhalin, destroying all trading posts in Aniva Bay. In 1807, he burned a Japanese village on Iturup, and distributed goods from shops to smokers. On Matsmay, Khvostov captured and plundered 4 Japanese ships, after which he left a paper with the following content to the Matsmai governor: “The Russians, having now caused so little harm to the Japanese empire, wanted to show them only through ... that further stubbornness of the Japanese government could completely deprive them of these lands ".

Believing that Khvostov's pirate raids were sanctioned by the Russian government, the Japanese prepared to retaliate. That is why the completely peaceful appearance on Kunashir in 1811 of Captain Vasily Golovnin ended with his capture and imprisonment for more than 2 years. Only after official government papers were delivered from Okhotsk to the Matsmai governor from Okhotsk, stating that "Khvostov and Davydov were tried, found guilty, punished and are no longer alive", Golovnin and his friends were released.

After the release of Golovnin, the governor of Irkutsk forbade Russian ships and canoes to go further than the 18th island (Urup), on which a colony of the Russian-American Company had existed since 1795. In fact, by the middle of the 19th century, the strait between Urup and Iturup began to serve as a border between states, which was fixed by the treaty of 1855, signed by Admiral Putyatin in the Japanese city of Shimoda. In a secret instruction to Putyatin, endorsed by Nicholas I, it was written unambiguously: "Of the Kuril Islands, the southernmost, belonging to Russia, is the island of Urup, to which we could limit ourselves ...".

The 1855 treaty left the status of Sakhalin uncertain, and in 1875 a new treaty was signed in St. Petersburg, according to which Japan renounced the rights to Sakhalin, receiving in return all the Kuriles up to Kamchatka itself. The Ainu from Sakhalin did not take Russian citizenship and moved to Hokkaido. The Ainu of the northern Kuriles decided to stay on their islands, especially since the RAK, in which they were in virtual slavery, ceased its activities in 1867. Having accepted Japanese citizenship, they retained Russian surnames and the Orthodox faith. In 1884, the Japanese government resettled all the North Kuril Ainu (there were no more than 100 of them) to Shikotan, forcibly turning them from fishermen and hunters into farmers and cattle breeders. At that time, the population of the South Kuriles, concentrated mainly on Iturup and Kunashir, was about 3,000 people, of which 3/4 were Japanese.

After the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War in Portsmouth in 1905, an agreement was signed under which the southern part of Sakhalin (below the 50th parallel) also went to Japan. In 1920, Japan also occupied the northern part of Sakhalin, where it began intensive oil development. Historian Dmitry Volkogonov found evidence that in 1923 Lenin was ready to sell northern Sakhalin to the Japanese, and the Politburo was going to ask for $1 billion for it. However, the deal did not go through, and in 1925, the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth were confirmed in a joint declaration in Beijing.

At the Yalta Conference in 1945, Stalin said that he would like to discuss the political terms under which the USSR would enter the war against Japan. Roosevelt remarked that he believed there would be no difficulty in handing over the southern half of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to Russia at the end of the war.

On August 8, 1945, the USSR fulfilled its obligations and attacked Japan. In early September, Soviet troops occupied the Kuriles, including the occupied Shikotan Island and the Habomai ridge, which, both geographically and according to the Japanese territorial division, did not then belong to the Kuril Islands. In 1946-1947, all the Japanese from Sakhalin and the Kuriles, numbering about 400 thousand, were repatriated. All the Ainu were sent to Hokkaido. At the same time, more than 300,000 Soviet settlers arrived on Sakhalin and the islands. The memory of the almost 150-year stay of the Japanese in the South Kuriles was intensively erased and sometimes by barbaric methods. In Kunashir, Buddhist monuments along the entire coast were blown up, and many Japanese cemeteries were desecrated.

At the 1951 peace conference in San Francisco, the USSR delegation proposed to include in the text of the peace treaty with Japan a clause recognizing the sovereignty of the USSR over southern Sakhalin and the Kuriles, but in the circumstances of the Cold War, the position of the United States and Great Britain was already different than in 1945 , and the proposals of the USSR were not accepted. The final text of the treaty included a provision on Japan's renunciation of all rights and claims to the Kuril Islands and southern Sakhalin, but it was not said, firstly, in whose favor Japan was renouncing these territories, and secondly, the concept of "Kuril Islands" was not deciphered. islands”, which each of the parties, of course, understood in its own way. As a result, the USSR did not sign the treaty, but Japan did, which gave it the formal right to immediately raise the issue of the return of the South Kuriles.

The refusal of the Soviet delegation in San Francisco to sign the peace treaty legally left Russia and Japan at war. In 1956, a joint declaration was signed in Moscow between the USSR and Japan, which contained the consent of the Soviet Union to return the island of Shikotan and the Habomai ridge to Japan immediately after the conclusion of the peace treaty. But in 1960, the government of the USSR unilaterally refused to fulfill the clause of the declaration on the return of the islands, motivating "

"his rejection of the content of the new Japanese-American security treaty.

Since 1990, Japanese citizens have been able to visit the burial places of their relatives in the South Kuril Islands (the first such visits began in 1964, but were subsequently discontinued). Many abandoned Japanese cemeteries have been restored by Russians - residents of the islands.

In 1993, a declaration on Russian-Japanese relations was signed in Tokyo, which fixes the need for an early conclusion of a peace treaty on the basis of resolving the issue of ownership of the South Kuriles. In 1998, the Moscow Declaration on the Establishment of a Creative Partnership between Russia and Japan was signed...

The strait separating Kunashir from Hokkaido is narrow. On Russian maps, it is called the Strait of Treason - in memory of the capture of Captain Golovnin. Many today believe that this name is unfortunate. But the time for renaming, apparently, has not yet come.

Russia may call into question fishing by Japanese fishermen in the South Kuriles in case of further violations of fishing rules by Japan, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

The Kuril Islands are a chain of volcanic islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido (Japan), which separate the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. They consist of two parallel ridges of islands - the Greater Kuril and the Lesser Kuril. The first information about the Kuril Islands was reported by the Russian explorer V.V. Atlases.

In 1745 most of the Kuril Islands were plotted on the "General Map of the Russian Empire" in the Academic Atlas.

In the 70s of the XVIII century in the Kuriles there were permanent Russian settlements under the command of the Irkutsk tradesman Vasily Zvezdochetov. On the map of 1809, the Kuriles and Kamchatka were attributed to the Irkutsk province. In the 18th century, the peaceful colonization by Russians of Sakhalin, the Kuriles and the northeast of Hokkaido was basically completed.

In parallel with the development of the Kuriles by Russia, the Japanese were advancing to the Northern Kuriles. Reflecting the Japanese onslaught, Russia in 1795 built a fortified military camp on the island of Urup.

By 1804 in the Kuriles, a dual power actually developed: in the Northern Kurils, the influence of Russia was more strongly felt, in the South - of Japan. But formally, all the Kuriles still belonged to Russia.

February 7, 1855 The first Russian-Japanese treaty was signed - the Treatise on Trade and Borders. He proclaimed relations of peace and friendship between the two countries, opened three Japanese ports for Russian ships and established a border in the South Kuriles between the islands of Urup and Iturup.

In 1875 Russia signed the Russo-Japanese treaty, according to which it ceded 18 Kuril Islands to Japan. Japan, in turn, recognized the island of Sakhalin as wholly owned by Russia.

From 1875 to 1945 The Kuril Islands were under the control of Japan.

February 11, 1945 between the leaders of the Soviet Union, the USA and Great Britain - I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt, W. Churchill, an agreement was signed according to which, after the end of the war against Japan, the Kuril Islands should be transferred to the Soviet Union.

September 2, 1945 Japan signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender, accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration of 1945, which limited its sovereignty to the islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido, as well as to the smaller islands of the Japanese archipelago. The islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai went to the Soviet Union.

February 2, 1946 By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Kuril Islands Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai were included in the USSR.

September 8, 1951 At an international conference in San Francisco, a peace treaty was concluded between Japan and 48 countries participating in the anti-fascist coalition, according to which Japan renounced all rights, titles and claims to the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. The Soviet delegation did not sign this treaty, referring to the fact that it regards it as a separate agreement between the US and Japanese governments. From the point of view of treaty law, the question of the ownership of the South Kuriles remained uncertain. The Kuriles ceased to be Japanese, but did not become Soviet. Using this circumstance, Japan in 1955 presented the USSR with claims to all the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin. As a result of two years of negotiations between the USSR and Japan, the positions of the parties drew closer: Japan limited its claims to the islands of Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashir and Iturup.

October 19, 1956 In Moscow, the Joint Declaration of the USSR and Japan was signed on ending the state of war between the two states and restoring diplomatic and consular relations. In it, in particular, the Soviet government agreed to the transfer of Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty of the islands of Habomai and Shikotan.

After conclusion in 1960 of the Japanese-American security treaty, the USSR annulled the obligations assumed by the 1956 declaration.

During the Cold War, Moscow did not recognize the existence of a territorial problem between the two countries. The presence of this problem was first recorded in the Joint Statement of 1991, signed following the visit of the President of the USSR to Tokyo.

The Japanese side puts forward claims to the southern Kuril Islands, motivating them with references to the Russian-Japanese Treaty on Trade and Borders of 1855, according to which these islands were recognized as Japanese, and also to the fact that these territories are not part of the Kuril Islands, from which Japan refused under the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951.

In 1993 In Tokyo, the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of Japan signed the Tokyo Declaration on Russian-Japanese Relations, which recorded the agreement of the parties to continue negotiations with the aim of concluding a peace treaty as soon as possible by resolving the issue of ownership of the islands mentioned above.

In recent years, in order to create at the talks an atmosphere conducive to the search for mutually acceptable solutions, the parties have been paying great attention to establishing practical Russian-Japanese interaction and cooperation in the region of the islands. One of the results of this work was the beginning of the implementation in September 1999 of an agreement on the most facilitated procedure for visiting the islands by their former residents from among Japanese citizens and members of their families. Cooperation is being carried out in the fishery sector on the basis of the current Russian-Japanese Agreement on fishing near the southern Kuriles dated February 21, 1998.

The position of the Russian side on the issue of border delimitation is that the southern Kuril Islands passed to our country as a result of the Second World War on a legal basis in accordance with the agreements of the allied powers (Yalta Agreement of February 11, 1945, Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945 G.). Reaffirming its commitment to the previously reached agreements on holding negotiations on a peace treaty, including the issue of border delimitation, the Russian side emphasizes that the solution to this problem should be mutually acceptable, not damage the sovereignty and national interests of Russia, and receive the support of the public and the parliaments of both countries.

What is interesting about the Kuril Islands and is it possible to organize a trip on your own? Who owns the Kuriles now: the essence of the Russia-Japan conflict.

The islands of the Sakhalin ridge, bordering Japan, are considered an oriental wonder of nature. Of course, we are talking about the Kuril Islands, whose history is as rich as nature. To begin with, it is worth saying that the struggle for 56 islands located between Kamchatka and Hokkaido began from the moment of discovery.

Kuril Islands on the map of Russia

Kuril Islands - pages of history

So, at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, when Russian navigators mapped hitherto unexplored lands that turned out to be inhabited, the process of appropriation of uninhabited territories began. At that time, the Kuril Islands were inhabited by a people called Ayans. The Russian authorities tried to attract these people into their citizenship by any means, not excluding force. As a result, the ayans, together with their lands, nevertheless went over to the side of the Russian Empire in exchange for the abolition of taxes.

The situation fundamentally did not suit the Japanese, who had their own views on these territories. Diplomatic methods failed to resolve the conflict. Eventually, according to a document dated 1855, the territory of the islands is considered undivided. The situation became clear only after the end of World War II, when an amazing territory with a harsh climate was transferred to official ownership.

According to the new world order, the Kuril Islands passed into the possession of the Soviet Union - the victorious state. The Japanese, who fought on the side of the Nazis, had no chance.

Who actually owns the Kuril Islands?

Despite the results of the Second World War, which secured the USSR the right to own the Kuril Islands at the world level, Japan still claims the territory. So far, no peace treaty has been signed between the two countries.

What is happening now - in 2020?

By changing tactics, Japan is compromising and is currently contesting Russia's ownership of only a PART of the Kuril Islands. These are Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Khabomai group. At first glance, this is a small part of the Kuriles, because there are 56 units in the archipelago! One thing is confusing: Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan are the only Kuril Islands where there is a permanent population (about 18 thousand people). They are located closest to the Japanese "border".

The Japanese and world media, in turn, throw firewood into the furnace of the conflict, exaggerating the topic and convincing ordinary citizens of Japan that the Kuril Islands are vital to them and unfairly captured. When, by whom, at what moment - it does not matter. The main thing is to create as many potential hotbeds of conflict around one vast, but a little unlucky country. Suddenly you're lucky, and somewhere the case will "burn out"?

Representatives of the Russian Federation represented by the President and the Foreign Ministry remain calm. But they do not tire of reminding once again that we are talking about the territory of Russia, which belongs to it by right. Well, in the end, it does not make claims to Poland on Gdansk and - on Alsace and Lorraine 😉

Nature of the Kuril Islands

Not only the history of the development of the islands is interesting, but also their nature. In fact, each of the Kuril Islands is a volcano, and a good part of these volcanoes are currently active. It is thanks to the volcanic origin that the nature of the islands is so diverse, and the surrounding landscapes are a paradise for photographers and geologists.

Eruption of the Crimean volcano (Kuril Islands, Russia)

Local residents. Bears of the Kuril Islands.

There are many geothermal springs on the Kuril Islands, which form whole lakes with hot water, saturated with micro and macro elements beneficial to health. The Kuril Islands are home to a huge number of animals and birds, many of which are found only in these parts. The plant world is also rich, represented for the most part by endemics.

Journey to the Kuril Islands 2020

According to its parameters, the territory of the Kuril Islands is perfect for traveling. And even though the climate is harsh, there are almost no sunny days, high humidity and an abundance of precipitation - weather imperfections are covered a hundredfold by the beauty of nature and surprisingly clean air. So if you are worried about the weather on the Kuril Islands, then you can survive it.

Rest on the Kuril Islands today is exotic!

Having set out to organize an independent vacation on the Kuril Islands in 2020 (at least virtually), we habitually opened booking.com and discovered another, more global problem. Currently, there are no hotels on the Kuril Islands - tourism is not developed there.

Getting to the Kuriles is also not an easy task. The nearest airport accepting flights from Moscow is located in the regional center - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. And then a desperate traveler is waiting for a sea voyage to the Kuril Islands. But even here another test lies in wait: the only navigable non-freezing straits are the Frieze Strait and the Catherine Strait.

But the more interesting it will be to get and spend time on the Kuril Islands!

Flight tickets to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk from Moscow

Just in case, we throw you a link to a calendar of low prices for air tickets to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. What if you really one day are going to give up on the Kuriles? If we manage to do it before you, we will definitely tell you!

*Prices are for round trip

Once you visit the Kuril Islands, you will remember this beauty for the rest of your life. After all, it is not for nothing that countries like Japan have mutual claims about a small, but such a fertile piece of land.

Read more:

• - hotels
• (unexplored Norway)
• What is famous
• Life hacks from Fountravel:
• - is it worth going

Kuril Landing Operation The Red Army's operation in the Kuril Islands has entered the history of operational art. It was studied in many armies of the world, but almost all experts came to the conclusion that the Soviet landing forces had no prerequisites for an early victory. Success was ensured by the courage and heroism of the Soviet soldier. American failure in the Kuril Islands

On April 1, 1945, American troops, supported by the British Navy, landed on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The US command expected to seize a bridgehead for the landing of troops on the main islands of the empire with one lightning strike. But the operation lasted almost three months, and the losses among American soldiers were unexpectedly high - up to 40% of the personnel. The resources spent were incommensurable with the result and forced the US government to think about the Japanese problem. The war could last for years and cost the lives of millions of American and British soldiers. The Japanese, on the other hand, were convinced that they could resist for a long time and even put forward conditions for the conclusion of peace.

The Americans and the British were waiting for what the Soviet Union would do, which, at the Allied conference in Yalta, had committed itself to open hostilities against Japan.
The Western allies of the USSR had no doubt that the same long and bloody battles awaited the Red Army in Japan as in the West. But the commander-in-chief of the troops in the Far East, Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky did not share their opinion. On August 9, 1945, the Red Army went on the offensive in Manchuria and inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy in just a few days.

On August 15, Emperor Hirohito of Japan was forced to announce his surrender. On the same day, American President Harry Truman drew up a detailed plan for the surrender of Japanese troops, and sent it for approval to the allies - the USSR and Great Britain. Stalin immediately drew attention to an important detail: the text did not say that the Japanese garrisons on the Kuril Islands should capitulate to the Soviet troops, although until recently the American government agreed that this archipelago should pass to the USSR. Given that the rest of the points were spelled out in detail, it became clear that this was not an accidental mistake - the United States was trying to put the post-war status of the Kuriles in question.

Stalin demanded that the US President make an amendment, and drew attention to the fact that the Red Army intended to occupy not only all the Kuril Islands, but also part of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It was impossible to rely only on Truman's good will; the troops of the Kamchatka defensive region and the Petropavlovsk naval base were ordered to land troops on the Kuril Islands.

Why countries fought for the Kuril Islands

From Kamchatka, in good weather, one could see Shumshu Island, which was only 12 kilometers from the Kamchatka Peninsula. This is the extreme island of the Kuril archipelago - a ridge of 59 islands, 1200 kilometers long. On the maps, they were designated as the territory of the Japanese Empire.

The development of the Kuril Islands by Russian Cossacks began in 1711. At that time, the belonging of this territory to Russia did not raise doubts among the international community. But in 1875, Alexander II decided to consolidate peace in the Far East and handed over the Kuriles to Japan in exchange for her refusal to claim Sakhalin. These peace-loving efforts of the emperor were in vain. After 30 years, the Russo-Japanese War nevertheless began, and the agreement became invalid. Then Russia lost and was forced to recognize the conquest of the enemy. Japan left not only the Kuriles, but it also received the southern part of Sakhalin.

The Kuril Islands are unsuitable for economic activity, so for many centuries they were considered practically uninhabited. There were only a few thousand inhabitants, mostly representatives of the Ainu. Fishing, hunting, subsistence farming - these are all sources of livelihood.

In the 1930s, rapid construction began on the archipelago, mainly military - airfields and naval bases. The Empire of Japan was preparing to fight for dominance in the Pacific Ocean. The Kuril Islands were to become a springboard for both capturing Soviet Kamchatka and attacking American naval bases (the Aleutian Islands). In November 1941, these plans began to be implemented. It was the shelling of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. After 4 years, the Japanese managed to equip a powerful defense system on the archipelago. All available places for landing on the island were covered by firing points, there was a developed infrastructure underground.
The beginning of the Kuril landing operation
At the Yalta Conference in 1945, the Allies decided to take Korea under joint guardianship, and recognized the right of the USSR to the Kuril Islands. The United States even offered to help take possession of the archipelago. As part of the secret Hula Project, the Pacific Fleet received American landing craft.
On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt died, and the attitude towards the Soviet Union changed, as the new President Harry Truman was wary of the USSR. The new American government did not deny possible military operations in the Far East, and the Kuril Islands would become a convenient springboard for military bases. Truman sought to prevent the transfer of the archipelago to the USSR.

Due to the tense international situation, Alexander Vasilevsky (commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East) received an order: “using the favorable situation that developed during the offensive in Manchuria and Sakhalin Island, take the northern group of the Kuril Islands. Vasilevsky did not know that such a decision was made due to the deterioration of relations between the US and the USSR. It was ordered to form a battalion of marines within 24 hours. The battalion was led by Timofey Pochtarev. There was little time to prepare the operation - only a day, the key to success was the close interaction of the forces of the army and navy. Marshal Vasilevsky decided to appoint Major General Alexei Gnechko as commander of the operation. According to the memoirs of Gnechko: “I was given complete freedom of initiative. And this is quite understandable: the command of the front and the fleet was a thousand kilometers away, and it was impossible to count on the immediate coordination and approval of my every order and order.

Naval artilleryman Timofey Pochtarev received his first combat experience back in the Finnish War. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he fought in the Baltic, defended Leningrad, and participated in the battles for Narva. He dreamed of returning to Leningrad. But fate and command decreed otherwise. The officer was assigned to Kamchatka, to the headquarters of the coastal defense of the Petropavlovsk naval base.
The most difficult was the first stage of the operation - the capture of the island of Shumshu. It was considered the northern gate of the Kuril archipelago, and Japan paid special attention to the fortification of Shumshu. 58 pillboxes and pillboxes could shoot through every meter of the coast. In total, there were 100 artillery installations, 30 machine guns, 80 tanks and 8.5 thousand soldiers on the island of Shumshu. Another 15 thousand were on the neighboring island of Paramushir, and they could be transferred to Shumshu within a few hours.

The Kamchatka defensive region consisted of only one rifle division. Units were dispersed throughout the peninsula. All in one day, August 16, they had to be delivered to the port. In addition, it was impossible to transport the entire division through the first Kuril Strait - there were not enough ships. Soviet troops and sailors had to act in extremely difficult conditions. First, land on a well-fortified island, and then fight a superior enemy without military equipment. All hope was on the “surprise factor”.

The first stage of the operation

It was decided to land the Soviet troops between Capes Kokutai and Kotomari, and then capture the center of defense of the island, the Kataoka naval base, with a blow. In order to mislead the enemy and disperse forces, they planned a diversion strike - a landing in Nanagawa Bay. The day before the operation began shelling the island. The fire could not cause much harm, but General Gnechko set other goals - to force the Japanese to withdraw their troops from the coastal territory, where the landing of landing troops was planned. Part of the paratroopers under the leadership of Pochtarev became the core of the detachment. By nightfall, the loading onto the ships was completed. On the morning of August 17, the ships left Avacha Bay.

The commanders were instructed to observe radio silence and blackout. The weather conditions were difficult - fog, because of this, the ships arrived at the place only at 4 am, although they planned at 11 pm. Because of the fog, some ships could not come close to the island, and the remaining meters of the Marines sailed, with weapons and equipment.
The advance detachment reached the island in full force, and at first they did not meet any resistance. Yesterday, the Japanese leadership withdrew troops deep into the island to protect them from shelling. Using the surprise factor, Major Pochtarev decided to capture enemy batteries at Cape Katamari with the help of his companies. He led this attack personally.

The second stage of the operation

The terrain was flat, so it was impossible to approach imperceptibly. The Japanese opened fire, the advance stopped. It remained to wait for the rest of the paratroopers. With great difficulty and under Japanese fire, the bulk of the battalion was brought to Shumshu, and the offensive began. The Japanese troops had by this time recovered from the panic. Major Pochtarev ordered to stop frontal attacks, and assault groups were formed in a combat situation.

After several hours of battle, almost all the pillboxes and bunkers of the Japanese were destroyed. The outcome of the battle was decided by the personal courage of Major Pochtarev. He stood up to his full height and led the soldiers behind him. Almost immediately he was wounded, but did not pay attention to her. The Japanese began to retreat. But almost immediately the troops pulled up again, and began a counterattack. General Fusaki ordered to recapture the dominant heights at any cost, then cut the landing forces into pieces and throw them back to the sea. Under the cover of artillery, 60 tanks went into battle. Ship strikes came to the rescue, and the destruction of the tanks began. Those vehicles that could break through were destroyed by the forces of the Marines. But the ammunition was already running out, and then horses came to the aid of the Soviet paratroopers. They were allowed to swim ashore, loaded with ammunition. Despite heavy shelling, most of the horses survived and delivered ammunition.

From the island of Paramushir, the Japanese transferred forces of 15 thousand people. The weather improved, and the Soviet planes were able to take off on a combat mission. The pilots attacked the piers and piers where the Japanese were unloading. While the forward detachment repelled the Japanese counteroffensive, the main forces launched a flank attack. By August 18, the island's defense system was completely broken. There was a turning point in the battle. When Soviet ships entered the second Kuril Strait, the Japanese suddenly opened fire in the crossfire. Then the Japanese kamikaze went on the attack. The pilot threw his car directly at the ship, firing continuously. But the Soviet anti-aircraft gunners thwarted the Japanese feat.

Upon learning of this, Gnechko again ordered to go on the attack - the Japanese hung out white flags. General Fusaki said that he had not given the order to fire on the ships and proposed to return to the discussion of the disarmament act. Fusaki fidgeted, but the general agreed to personally sign the disarmament act. He avoided even uttering the word "surrender" in every possible way, because for him, as a samurai, it was humiliating.

The garrisons of Urup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Paramushir capitulated without putting up resistance. It came as a surprise to the whole world that Soviet troops occupied the Kuriles in just one month. Truman approached Stalin with a request to locate American military bases, but was refused. Stalin understood that the US would try to gain a foothold if they got the territory. And he turned out to be right: the United States immediately after the war, Truman made every effort to include Japan in its sphere of influence. On September 8, 1951, a peace treaty was signed in San Francisco between Japan and the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The Japanese abandoned all conquered territories, including Korea. According to the text of the treaty, the Ryukyu archipelago was transferred to the UN, in fact, the Americans established their own protectorate. Japan also renounced the Kuril Islands, but the text of the agreement did not say that the Kuril Islands were transferred to the USSR. Andrei Gromyko, Deputy Foreign Minister (at that time), refused to put his signature on a document with such wording. The Americans refused to amend the peace treaty. This is how a legal incident turned out: de jure they ceased to belong to Japan, but their status was never fixed.
In 1946, the northern islands of the Kuril archipelago became part of the South Sakhalin region. And it was undeniable.

Then it became known that the Ainu called the Russians "brothers" because of their resemblance. “And those bearded people call Russians de people brothers,” the Yakut Cossack Nekhoroshko Ivanovich Kolobov, the conductor of Moskvitin’s expeditions, reported in the “skazka” presented by Moskvitin in January 1646 to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich about serving in Moskvitin’s detachment, when he spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the islands. The first Russian settlements of that time are evidenced by Dutch, German and Scandinavian medieval chronicles and maps. The first information about the Kuril Islands and their inhabitants reached the Russians in the middle of the 17th century.

New information about the Kuril Islands appeared after the campaign of Vladimir Atlasov to Kamchatka in 1697, during which the islands were examined up to Simushir in the south.

18th century

Map of Japan and Korea published by the US National Geographic Society, 1945. Detail. The signature in red under the Kuril Islands reads: "In 1945, it was agreed in Yalta that Russia would return Karafuto and the Kuril Islands."

San Francisco Peace Treaty (1951). Chapter II. Territory.

c) Japan renounces all rights, titles and claims to the Kuril Islands and to that part of Sakhalin Island and the islands adjacent to it, sovereignty over which Japan acquired under the Portsmouth Treaty of September 5, 1905.

original text(English)

(c) Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kurile Islands, and to that portion of Sakhalin and the islands adjacent to it over which Japan acquired sovereignty as a consequence of the Treaty of Portsmouth of 5 September 1905.

Post-war agreements

Joint Declaration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan (1956). Article 9

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan agreed to continue, after the restoration of normal diplomatic relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan, negotiations on the conclusion of a Peace Treaty.

At the same time, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer of the Habomai Islands and the Shikotan Islands to Japan, however, that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will be made after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan .

December 13, 2006. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Taro Aso, at a meeting of the foreign policy committee of the lower house of representatives of the parliament, spoke in favor of dividing the southern part of the disputed Kuril Islands with Russia in half. There is a point of view that in this way the Japanese side hopes to solve a long-standing problem in Russian-Japanese relations. However, immediately after Taro Aso's statement, the Japanese Foreign Ministry disavowed his words, emphasizing that they were misinterpreted.

June 11, 2009. The lower house of the Japanese Parliament approved amendments to the law "On special measures to facilitate the resolution of the issue of the Northern Territories and similar ones", which contain a provision on the ownership of the four islands of the South Kuril ridge by Japan. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling such actions by the Japanese side inappropriate and unacceptable. On June 24, 2009, a State Duma statement was published in which, in particular, the opinion of the State Duma was stated that under the current conditions, efforts to solve the problem of a peace treaty, in fact, had lost both political and practical perspectives and would only make sense in case of disavowal of the amendments adopted by the Japanese parliamentarians. On July 3, 2009, the amendments were approved by the Upper House of the Japanese Diet.

September 14, 2009. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama hopes to make progress in negotiations with Russia on the southern Kuriles "over the next six months or a year." .

September 23, 2009. At a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Hatoyama spoke of his desire to resolve the territorial dispute and conclude a peace treaty with Russia.

On April 1, 2010, Andrei Nesterenko, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, made a comment in which he announced the approval on April 1 by the Government of Japan of changes and additions to the so-called. "Basic course to promote the solution of the problem of the northern territories" and stated that the repetition of unfounded territorial claims against Russia cannot benefit the dialogue on the conclusion of the Russian-Japanese peace treaty, as well as the maintenance of normal contacts between the southern Kuril Islands, which are part of the Sakhalin regions of Russia, and Japan.

September 29, 2010 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced his intention to visit the southern Kuriles. Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara made a response statement in which he said that Medvedev's possible trip to these territories would create "serious obstacles" in bilateral relations. On October 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview that he sees "no connection" between a possible visit by the Russian president to the Kuril Islands and Russian-Japanese relations: "The president himself decides which regions of the Russian Federation he visits."

On November 1, 2010, Dmitry Medvedev arrived on Kunashir Island, until that moment the heads of Russia had never visited the disputed southern Kuril Islands (in 1990, the chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, Boris Yeltsin, came to the Kuriles). Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan expressed "extreme regret" in this regard: "The four northern islands are the territory of our country, and we consistently take this position. The President's trip there is extremely regrettable. I am clearly aware that territories are the basis of national sovereignty. The areas into which the USSR entered after August 15, 1945, are our territories. We consistently adhere to this position and insist on their return.” Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara confirmed the Japanese position: “It is known that these are our ancestral territories. The trip there by the President of Russia hurts the feelings of our people, causes extreme regret. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which the Japanese side stated that “its attempts to influence the choice by the President of the Russian Federation D.A. years". At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sharply criticized the Japanese side's reaction to President Medvedev's visit, calling it unacceptable. Sergey Lavrov also emphasized that these islands are the territory of Russia.

On November 2, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara announced that the head of the Japanese mission to Russia would temporarily return to Tokyo to receive further information about the Russian president's visit to the Kuriles. A week and a half later , the Japanese ambassador returned to Russia . At the same time, the meeting between Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation congress scheduled for November 13-14 was not cancelled. Also on November 2, information appeared that President Dmitry Medvedev would make a second visit to the Kuril Islands.

On November 13, Foreign Ministers of Japan and Russia Seiji Maehara and Sergey Lavrov at a meeting in Yokohama confirmed their intention to develop bilateral relations in all areas and agreed to search for a mutually acceptable solution to the territorial issue.

Basic position of Russia

Moscow's principled position is that the southern Kuril Islands became part of the USSR, of which Russia became the legal successor, are an integral part of the territory of the Russian Federation on legal grounds following the results of the Second World War and enshrined in the UN Charter, and Russian sovereignty over them, which has a corresponding international -legal confirmation, no doubt. In 2012, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that the problem of the Kuril Islands could be resolved in Russia only through a referendum. Subsequently, the Russian Foreign Ministry officially refuted the raising of the question of any referendum: “This is a rude distortion of the minister's words. We regard such interpretations as provocative. No sane politician would ever put this issue to a referendum." In addition, the Russian authorities once again officially confirmed the unconditional indisputability of the belonging of the islands to Russia, stating that in connection with this, the question of any referendum cannot be by definition.

Base position of Japan

Base position of Japan

(1) The Northern Territories are the centuries-old territories of Japan that continue to be under the illegal occupation of Russia. The Government of the United States of America also consistently supports Japan's position.

(2) In order to resolve this issue and conclude a peace treaty as quickly as possible, Japan is vigorously continuing negotiations with Russia on the basis of the agreements already reached, such as the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration of 1956, the Tokyo Declaration of 1993, the Irkutsk Statement of 2001, and the Japan- Russian action plan 2003.

(3) According to the Japanese position, if the Northern Territories are confirmed to belong to Japan, Japan is ready to be flexible in terms of the time and procedure for their return. In addition, since the Japanese citizens living in the Northern Territories were forcibly evicted by Joseph Stalin, Japan is ready to come to terms with the Russian government so that the Russian citizens living there will not suffer the same tragedy. In other words, after the return of the islands to Japan, Japan intends to respect the rights, interests and desires of the Russians now living on the islands.

(4) The Government of Japan has urged the people of Japan not to visit the Northern Territories outside of the visa-free procedure until the territorial dispute is resolved. Likewise, Japan cannot allow any activity, including economic activity by third parties, that could be considered subject to Russian “jurisdiction”, nor allow activity that would imply Russian “jurisdiction” over the Northern Territories. Japan has a policy of taking appropriate measures to prevent such activities.

original text(English)

Japan's Basic Position

(1) The Northern Territories are inherent territories of Japan that continues to be illegally occupied by Russia. The Government of the United States of America has also consistently supported Japan's position.

(2) In order to solve this issue and to conclude a peace treaty as soon as possible, Japan has energetically continued negotiations with Russia on the basis of the agreements and documents created by the two sides so far, such as the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration of 1956, the Tokyo Declaration of 1993, the Irkutsk Statement of 2001 and the Japan-Russia Action Plan of 2003.

(3) Japan's position is that if the attribution of the Northern Territories to Japan is confirmed, Japan is prepared to respond flexibly to the timing and manner of their actual return. In addition, since Japanese citizens who once lived in the Northern Territories were forcibly displaced by Joseph Stalin, Japan is ready to forge a settlement with the Russian government so that the Russian citizens living there will not experience the same tragedy. rights, interests and wishes of the Russian current residents on the islands.

(4) The Japanese government has requested the Japanese people not to enter the Northern Territories without using the non-visa visit frameworks until the territorial issue is resolved. Similarly, Japan cannot allow any activities, including economic activities by a third party, which could be regarded as submitting to Russian “jurisdiction,” nor allow any activities carried out under the presumption that Russia has “jurisdiction” in the Northern Territories. Japan is of the policy to take appropriate steps to ensure that this does not happen. .

original text(jap.)

日本の基本的立場

（１）北方領土は、ロシアによる不法占拠が続いていますが、日本固有の領土であり、この点については例えば米国政府も一貫して日本の立場を支持しています。政府は、北方四島の帰属の問題を解決して平和条約を締結するという基本的方針に基づいて、ロシア政府との間で強い意思をもって交渉を行っています。

（２） 北方 領土 問題 の に 当たって 、 我 が 国 は 、 、 、） 北方 領土 の へ の 帰属 が さ れる のであれ ば 、 の 返還 時期 及び 態様 について は 、 に する 、 、 2） 領土 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 北方 AH に 現在 居住 し て いる 人 住民 について は その 人 権 、 利益 及び 希望 は 、 領土 返還 後 十分 尊重 し て いく こと し て い。。。。 ます

（３） 我 が 国固 有 の である 北方 領土 に対する ロシア による 占拠 が 続い て いる 状況 の 中 、 第 三 国 の 民間 人 当該 で 経済 活動 行う こと " 管轄 権 」に 服し た か の 行為 を 行う こと 、 または あたかも あたかも 北方 に対する ロシア の「 管轄 」を 前提 と し た か ごとき を 行う こと は 、" れ ず 、 容認 でき ませ ん。 て 、 日本 国 政府 は 広く 日本 国民 に対して 、 、 1989 年 平成 元年） の 閣議 了解 で 、 領土 の 解決 まで 間 、 ロシア の 不法 の 下 で に 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 領土 AH 入域することを行わないよう要請しています。

（４）また、政府は、第三国国民がロシアの査証を取得した上で北方四島へ入域する、または第三国企業が北方領土において経済活動を行っているという情報に接した場合、従来から、しかるべく事実関係を確認の上、申入れを行ってきています 。

Defense aspect and danger of armed conflict

In connection with the territorial dispute over the ownership of the southern Kuriles, there is a danger of a military conflict with Japan. At present, the Kuriles are defended by a machine gun and artillery division (the only one in Russia), and Sakhalin is defended by a motorized rifle brigade. These formations are armed with 41 T-80 tanks, 120 MT-LB transporters, 20 coastal anti-ship missile systems, 130 artillery systems, 60 anti-aircraft weapons (Buk, Tunguska, Shilka complexes), 6 Mi-8 helicopters. The armed forces of Japan include: 1 tank and 9 infantry divisions, 16 brigades (about 1,000 tanks, more than 1,000 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, about 2,000 artillery systems, 90 attack helicopters), 200 F-15 fighters, 50 F-2 fighter-bombers and up to 100 F-4s. The Russian Pacific Fleet has 3 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), 4 nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines (SSGNs), 3 multi-purpose nuclear submarines, 7 diesel boats, 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, 4 large anti-submarine ships, 4 landing ships, 14 missile boats, about 30 warships of other types (minesweepers, small anti-submarine, etc.). The Japanese fleet has 20 diesel submarines, a light aircraft carrier, 44 destroyers (6 of them with the Aegis system), 6 frigates, 7 missile boats, 5 landing ships and about 40 more auxiliary ones.

In the event of an armed conflict, Japan's goal will be to block sea and air communications to the southern Kuriles.

Political-economic and military-strategic value of the issue

Island ownership and shipping

It is often stated that the only Russian non-freezing straits of Ekaterina and Frieze from the Sea of ​​Japan to the Pacific Ocean lie between the islands, and thus, in the event of the transfer of the islands to Japan, the Russian Pacific Fleet in the winter months will experience difficulties in entering the Pacific Ocean:

The head of the Federal Main Directorate "MAP Sakhalin" of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation Egorov M. I. during the report specifically warned that in the event of a concession to the territorial requirements of Japan, Russia would lose the non-freezing Friza Strait and the Ekaterina Strait. Thus, Russia will lose free access to the Pacific Ocean. Japan will definitely make the passage through the straits paid or limited.

As written in the Law of the Sea:

The state has the right to temporarily suspend peaceful passage through certain sections of its territorial waters, if this is urgently required by the interests of its security.

However, the restriction of Russian shipping - except for warships in case of conflict - in these straits, and even more so the introduction of fees, would be contrary to certain provisions of the generally recognized in international law (including those recognized in