One of the first documents regulating Russian-Japanese relations was the Treaty of Shimoda, signed on January 26, 1855. According to the second article of the treatise, the border was established between the islands of Urup and Iturup - that is, all four islands that Japan claims today were recognized as the possession of Japan. Since 1981, the day of the conclusion of the Shimoda Treaty in Japan has been celebrated as “Northern Territories Day”. Another thing is that, relying on the Shimoda Treaty as one of the fundamental documents, Japan forgets about one important point. In 1904, Japan, having attacked the Russian squadron in Port Arthur and unleashed the Russo-Japanese War, itself violated the terms of the first paragraph of the treaty, which provided for friendship and good neighborly relations between states.

The Shimoda Treaty did not determine the ownership of Sakhalin, where both Russian and Japanese settlements were located, and by the mid-70s a solution to this issue was ripe. In 1875, the St. Petersburg Treaty was signed, which was ambiguously assessed by both parties, considering it as their own failure. Under the terms of the agreement, all the Kuril Islands were now completely transferred to Japan, and Russia received full control over Sakhalin.

Later, as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, according to the Treaty of Portsmouth, the southern part of Sakhalin up to the 50th parallel went to Japan. The Treaty of Portsmouth did not last long. In April 1918, Japanese military intervention began in Russia Far East, which was interference in the internal affairs of the country and contradicted the treaty of 1905. From the Japanese side, these events were considered part of the First World War with the countries of the German bloc, and the end of the war itself dates back to 1922, despite the fact that the Japanese lingered in the territory of the former Russian Empire the longest - until mid-May 1925, when their last units were withdrawn from Northern Sakhalin. At the same time, in 1925, a Soviet-Japanese convention was signed in Beijing, which generally confirmed the terms of the Portsmouth Treaty. As you know, the late 30s and early 40s were extremely tense in Soviet-Japanese relations and were associated with a series of military conflicts of varying scales, from constant clashes on the border to the undeclared war on Khalkhin Gol. The Molotov-Matsuoka Pact concluded in April 1941 somewhat eased tensions, but could not guarantee the security of the Soviet Far East. In a statement to German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, the Japanese Foreign Ministry noted in May 1941: “no Japanese prime minister or foreign minister will be able to force Japan to remain neutral if a conflict arises between the USSR and Germany. In this case, Japan will be forced, naturally, to attack Russia on the side of Germany. No Neutrality Pact will help here.” The only limiting factor remained the powerful Soviet military group of the Far Eastern Front.

The situation began to gradually change when a radical turning point emerged in World War II, and the prospect of defeat for Tokyo became increasingly obvious. Against this background, the question of the post-war world order arose. Thus, according to the terms of the Yalta Conference, the USSR pledged to enter the war against Japan, and Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were transferred to the Soviet Union. True, at the same time the Japanese leadership was ready to voluntarily cede these territories in exchange for the neutrality of the USSR and the supply of Soviet oil. But Soviet Union I didn’t take such a very slippery step. The defeat of Japan by that time was not a quick matter, but it was still a matter of time. And most importantly, by avoiding decisive action, the Soviet Union would actually be handing the situation in the Far East into the hands of the United States and its allies. This also applies to the events of the Soviet-Japanese War and the Kuril Landing Operation itself, which was not initially envisaged and was considered an extremely risky enterprise. When it became known about the preparations for the landing of American troops on the Kuril Islands, the Kuril landing operation was urgently prepared within 24 hours. Fierce fighting in August 1945 ended with the surrender of the Japanese garrisons in the Kuril Islands. Fortunately, the Japanese command did not know the real number of Soviet paratroopers and, without fully using their overwhelming numerical superiority, hastened to capitulate. At the same time, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin offensive operation was carried out.

On September 2, 1945, the act of surrender of Japan was signed in Tokyo Bay. But this document dealt with military and partly political issues, but did not in any way indicate territorial changes following the Second World War. And the peace treaty itself between the victorious powers and Japan was signed in San Francisco only on September 8, 1951. Japan, according to this document, renounced all rights to the Kuril Islands. However, the Soviet delegation did not sign this agreement. A number of researchers consider this a serious mistake of Soviet diplomacy, but there were very good reasons for this. Firstly, the document did not indicate what the Kuril Islands were or list them: the American side stated that only a special international court could establish this. And the head of the Japanese delegation stated that Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Habomai do not belong to the Kuril Islands group. Secondly, it is interesting that Japan renounced the rights to the islands, but the document did not indicate to whom these islands were transferred. Clause C of Article 2 of the treaty read: “Japan renounces all rights, title and claims to the Kuril Islands and to that part of Sakhalin Island and the adjacent islands over which Japan acquired sovereignty under the Portsmouth Treaty of September 5, 1905”... Thus Thus, the agreement did not confirm the USSR’s right to the Kuril Islands. After Stalin's death, an attempt was made to solve the problem bilaterally. On October 19, 1956, a Soviet-Japanese declaration was signed, designed to prepare the basis for the preparation of a peace treaty. On this wave, the USSR “meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer to Japan of the islands of Habomai and Sikotan (Shikotan), however, with the fact that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will take place after the signing of the peace treaty.” But, like many legal documents, this declaration, which Japanese politicians like to remember with such reverence these days, has a number of subtleties.

Firstly, if the USSR is ready to transfer, then such a document recognizes the very belonging of the islands to the Soviet Union. Because you can only transfer what you own... Secondly, the transfer must take place after the signing of a peace treaty. And thirdly, we were talking only about the two southern islands of Habomai and Shikotan.

For 1956, this declaration really became a positive breakthrough in Soviet-Japanese relations, which greatly alarmed the United States. Under pressure from Washington, the Japanese cabinet was replaced, and the course was set for signing a US-Japanese military treaty, which was finalized in 1960.

Then, for the first time, the Japanese side, not without the help of the United States, voiced demands for the transfer of not two, but all four islands. The United States pointed out that the Yalta agreements are declarative, but not at all binding. Since the agreement included clauses on the deployment of American bases in Japan, a memorandum from the USSR government to the Japanese government dated January 27, 1960 noted: “The new military treaty signed by the Japanese government is directed against the Soviet Union, as well as against the People's Republic of China, cannot contribute to so that the transfer of the islands indicated to Japan would expand the territory used by foreign troops. In view of this, the Soviet government considers it necessary to declare that only subject to the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Japanese territory and the signing of a peace treaty between the USSR and Japan, the islands of Habomai and Shikotan will be transferred to Japan, as provided for in the Joint Declaration.”

In the 1970s, there was no noticeable progress regarding the signing of a peace treaty. In Japan they understood perfectly well that in conditions Cold War Japan is the most important ally of the United States in the Pacific Ocean and any concession from the USSR in this moment impossible. But in the context of the weakening of the USSR, in the second half of the 1980s, the issue of transferring the Kuril Islands was again raised by Japan. A number of steps of Soviet and young Russian diplomacy did not correspond to the interests of the state. One of the key mistakes was recognizing the problem of the disputed ownership of the islands and conducting negotiations in a direction favorable to the opposing side. The Kuril Islands could well become a bargaining chip in the policies of both Gorbachev and Yeltsin, who were counting on decent material compensation in exchange for the islands. And if the first and last president of the USSR led an accelerated process, Yeltsin allowed the transfer of the islands in the distant future (15-20 years). But at the same time, the authorities could not help but take into account the colossal costs that would inevitably appear within the country in the event of territorial concessions. As a result, this pendulum policy continued almost throughout the “Yeltsin era,” when Russian diplomacy moved away from direct solution problems that, during the crisis, had a negative impact in all respects. On modern stage the process has reached a dead end and there is no serious progress on the issue of the Kuril Islands due to the extremely uncompromising position of Japan, which sets as a precondition the transfer of all four islands, and then the discussion and signing of a peace treaty. One can only guess what further conditions the Japanese Foreign Ministry may put forward.

One of the first documents regulating Russian-Japanese relations was the Treaty of Shimoda, signed on January 26, 1855. According to the second article of the treatise, the border was established between the islands of Urup and Iturup - that is, all four now islands that Japan claims today were recognized as the possession of Japan.

Since 1981, the day of the conclusion of the Shimoda Treaty in Japan has been celebrated as “Northern Territories Day”. Another thing is that, relying on the Shimoda Treaty as one of the fundamental documents, Japan forgets about one important point. In 1904, Japan, having attacked the Russian squadron in Port Arthur and unleashed the Russo-Japanese War, itself violated the terms of the treaty, which provided for friendship and good neighborly relations between states.

The Shimoda Treaty did not determine the ownership of Sakhalin, where both Russian and Japanese settlements were located, and by the mid-70s a solution to this issue was ripe. The St. Petersburg Treaty was signed, which was assessed ambiguously by both sides. Under the terms of the agreement, all the Kuril Islands were now completely transferred to Japan, and Russia received full control over Sakhalin.

Then, as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, according to the Treaty of Portsmouth, the southern part of Sakhalin up to the 50th parallel went to Japan.

In 1925, a Soviet-Japanese convention was signed in Beijing, which generally confirmed the terms of the Portsmouth Treaty. As you know, the late 30s and early 40s were extremely tense in Soviet-Japanese relations and were associated with a series of military conflicts of varying scales.

The situation began to change by 1945, when the Axis powers began to suffer heavy defeats and the prospect of losing World War II became increasingly clear. Against this background, the question of the post-war world order arose. Thus, according to the terms of the Yalta Conference, the USSR pledged to enter the war against Japan, and Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were transferred to the Soviet Union.

True, at the same time the Japanese leadership was ready to voluntarily cede these territories in exchange for the neutrality of the USSR and the supply of Soviet oil. The USSR did not take such a very slippery step. The defeat of Japan by that time was not a quick matter, but it was still a matter of time. And most importantly, by avoiding decisive action, the Soviet Union would actually be handing the situation in the Far East into the hands of the United States and its allies.

By the way, this also applies to the events of the Soviet-Japanese War and the Kuril Landing Operation itself, which was not initially prepared. When it became known about the preparations for the landing of American troops on the Kuril Islands, the Kuril landing operation was urgently prepared within 24 hours. Fierce fighting in August 1945 ended with the surrender of the Japanese garrisons in the Kuril Islands.

Fortunately, the Japanese command did not know the real number of Soviet paratroopers and, without fully using their overwhelming numerical superiority, capitulated. At the same time, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin offensive operation was carried out. Thus, at the cost of considerable losses, Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands became part of the USSR.

Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, Habomai - four words sound like a spell. The Southern Kuril Islands are the most distant, most mysterious and most problematic islands of the country. Probably every literate citizen of Russia has heard about the “island problem,” although the essence of the problem for many is as vague as the weather in the Far Eastern region. These difficulties only add to the tourist attraction: Cape World's End is worth seeing, as long as you don't need a visa to travel to it. Although special permission It is still required to visit the border zone.

Cossack Nechoro and the sedentary Gilyaks

The islands of Iturup and Kunashir belong to the Greater Kuril ridge, Shikotan - to the Lesser. Habomai is more complicated: there is no such name on modern maps; this is the old Japanese designation for the remaining islands of the Small Range. It is used precisely when the “Southern Kuriles problem” is discussed. Iturup is the largest of all the Kuril Islands, Kunashir is the southernmost of the Big Kurils, Shikotan is the northernmost of the Small Kurils. Since Habomai is an archipelago consisting of a dozen small and very small parts of land, the disputed Kuril Islands are actually not four, but more. Administratively, they all belong to the South Kuril District of the Sakhalin Region. The Japanese assign them to the Nemuro district of Hokkaido prefecture.

Entrance stele of the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk on Kunashir island of the Kuril ridge. Photo: Vladimir Sergeev / ITAR-TASS

The Russian-Japanese territorial dispute is a product of the 20th century, although the question of ownership of the islands was previously open rather than clearly defined. The uncertainty is based on the history of geography itself: the Kuril ridge, stretching in an arc from Kamchatka to Hokkaido, was discovered by the Japanese and Russians almost simultaneously.

More precisely, a certain fog-shrouded land north of Hokkaido was discovered back in 1643 by the Dutch expedition of Frieza. At that time, the Japanese were just exploring the north of Hokkaido, sometimes sailing to neighboring islands. In any case, on the Japanese map of 1644 Iturup and Kunashir were already marked. Around the same time, in 1646, the Yenisei Cossack Nekhoroshko Ivanovich Kolobov, an ally of the explorer Ivan Moskovitin, reported to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich that in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk there were islands with “sedentary Gilyaks” that kept “fed bears.” Gilyaki is the Russian name for the Nivkhs, Far Eastern aborigines, and “sedentary” means sedentary. The Nivkhs were the indigenous population of the islands along with ancient people Ainu The bear is the totem animal of the Ainu, who specially raised bears for the most important ancestral rituals. The word “Gilyak” in relation to the Kuril and Sakhalin aborigines was used until the 19th century; it can be found in Chekhov’s “Sakhalin Island”. And the name of the Kuriles themselves, according to one version, is reminiscent of smoking volcanoes, and according to another, it goes back to the Ainu language and the root “kur”, meaning “man”.

Kolobov may have visited the Kuril Islands before the Japanese, but his detachment certainly did not reach the Small Ridge. Russian navigators only half a century later reached the island of Simushir in the middle of the Kuril Islands, and moved further south already during the time of Peter I. In 1739, Martyn Shpanberg from the Second Kamchatka Expedition sailed from Kamchatka south along the entire Kuril ridge to Tokyo Bay and put the islands on the map, giving They have Russian names: Figured, Three Sisters and Tsitronny. Most likely, Figured is Shikotan, and Three Sisters and Tsitronny are Iturup, mistakenly taken for two islands.

Decrees, treatises and pacts

As a result of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, forty Kuril Islands were included in the 1745 atlas “General Map of Russia”. This position was confirmed in 1772, when the islands were transferred to the control of the main commander of Kamchatka, and once again secured in 1783 by a decree of Catherine II preserving Russia's right to lands discovered by Russian navigators. Free hunting of sea animals was allowed in the Kuril Islands, and Russian settlements began to appear on the islands. The mainland Cossacks collected tribute from the indigenous Kurilians, periodically going too far. So, in 1771, after the visit of a violent detachment of the Kamchatka centurion Ivan Cherny, the Ainu rebelled and tried to leave Russian citizenship. But in general, they treated the Russians well - they won against the background of the Japanese, who considered the aborigines “eastern savages” and fought with them.

A sunken ship in Yuzhno-Kurilskaya Bay on Kunashir Island in the Kuril Ridge. Photo: Vladimir Sergeev / ITAR-TASS

Japan, which by that time had been closed to foreigners for a hundred years, naturally had its own views of the islands. But the Japanese had not yet completely mastered even Hokkaido, originally inhabited by the same Ainu, so their practical interest in the Southern Kuril Islands flared up only towards the end of the 18th century. Then they officially banned Russians not only from trading, but also from simply appearing in Hokkaido, Iturup and Kunashir. A confrontation began on the islands: the Japanese destroyed Russian crosses and put up their own signs in their place, the Russians, in turn, corrected the situation, etc. IN early XIX century, the Russian-American campaign was engaged in trade in all the Kuril Islands, but it was never possible to establish normal ties with Japan.

Finally, in 1855, Russia and Japan concluded the first diplomatic treaty - the Treaty of Shimoda. The treaty established the Russian-Japanese state border between the islands of Iturup and Urup, and Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the rest of the islands of the Small Ridge went to Japan. The agreement was signed on February 7, and at the end of the 20th century, this particular day became a public holiday in Japan - Northern Territories Day. The Shimoda Treaty is the point from which the “Southern Kuriles problem” arose.

In addition, the agreement left the much more important island of Sakhalin in an uncertain position for Russia: it remained in the joint possession of both countries, which again gave rise to conflicts and prevented Russian plans for the development of coal deposits in the south of the island. For the sake of Sakhalin, Russia agreed to an “exchange of territories”, and under the new St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875, it transferred to Japan the rights to all the Kuril Islands, gaining full control over Sakhalin. As a result, Russia lost not only the islands, but also access to the Pacific Ocean - the straits from Kamchatka to Hokkaido were now controlled by the Japanese. It also didn’t turn out very well with Sakhalin, since hard labor was immediately established there, and coal was mined by the hands of convicts. This couldn't help normal development islands.

Shikotan Island. Members of the expedition to the Kuril Islands with local residents. 1891. Photo: Patriarche / pastvu.com

The next step was the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. The Portsmouth Peace Treaty of 1905 canceled all previous agreements: not only the Kuril Islands, but also the southern half of Sakhalin went to Japan. This situation was preserved and even strengthened under the Soviet regime, which signed the Beijing Treaty in 1925. The USSR did not recognize itself as the legal successor of the Russian Empire and, in order to secure its eastern borders from the hostile actions of the “samurai,” agreed to conditions that were very favorable to Japan. The Bolsheviks had no claims to the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin, and Japanese companies received a concession - the right to develop oil and coal fields on Soviet territory.

In the years before World War II, the Japanese built many engineering structures and military bases. These bases almost did not participate in hostilities, except for one case: in 1941, aircraft carriers left Iturup Island and headed for Pearl Harbor. And the Japanese concession in the north of Sakhalin was officially in force until 1941, when the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact was concluded. The pact was terminated in August 1945: following the decisions of the Yalta Conference, the USSR entered the war with Japan subject to the return of all the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.

Chishima Islands Trick

In September 1945, the Kuril Islands were occupied by Soviet troops, who accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrisons. The Memorandum of General MacArthur and the San Francisco Peace Treaty with the Allies formalized the fact that Japan renounced the rights to all territories received under the Potsdam Treaty of 1905 - Sakhalin and the Chishima Islands.

Shikotan Island. Whaling plant. 1946. Photo: Patriarche / pastvu.com

The root of the “island problem” lay hidden in this formulation. According to the Japanese version, the historical province of Tishima is Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands north of Kunashir. Kunashir itself, Iturup and the Small Ridge are not included in their number. Japan, therefore, did not renounce them, and can present legal right to the "northern territories". The Soviet side did not sign the treaty, insisting on changing the wording, so Russia and Japan are still legally at war. There is also a joint declaration of 1956, when the USSR promised to transfer Shikotan and Habomai to Japan after peace was concluded, and a few years later announced a unilateral refusal of this point.

The Russian Federation recognizes itself as the legal successor of the USSR and accordingly recognizes the agreements signed by the Soviet Union. Including the 1956 declaration. The bargaining for Shikotan and Habomai continues.

Island Treasures

The main myth about the Southern Kuril Islands is the assertion that their loss will lead to the loss of the only ice-free exit from the Sea of ​​Okhotsk to the Pacific Ocean through the Frieza and Catherine Straits. The straits really don’t freeze, but this doesn’t have any special significance: most of the waters of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk freeze anyway, and without icebreakers winter navigation is impossible here. Moreover, Japan cannot restrict passage through the straits in any case, as long as it adheres to international maritime law. In addition, the main routes of the region do not pass through the Southern Kuril Islands.

Another myth is the opposite: as if the Southern Kuriles bring more headaches than they have value, and no one will lose anything from their transfer. This is wrong. The islands are rich natural resources, including unique ones. On Iturup, for example, there is an extremely valuable deposit of the rare metal rhenium on the Kudryavy volcano.

Kunashir Island. Caldera of Golovnin volcano. Photo: Yuri Koshel

But the most obvious Kuril resource is natural. Japanese tourists have been actively traveling here on visa-free exchanges since 1992, and Kunashir and Iturup have long become the most popular of all Kuril tourist routes. After all, the Southern Kuril Islands are perfect place for ecotourism. The vagaries of the local climate, fraught with the most dangerous cataclysms from eruptions to tsunamis, are offset by the pristine beauty of the islands in the ocean.

For more than thirty years, the nature of the Southern Kuril Islands has had official protected status. The Kurilsky Nature Reserve and the federal-level Small Kuriles Nature Reserve protect most of Kunashir and Shikotan and many other small islands of the Small Ridge. And even an experienced traveler will not be left indifferent by the ecological routes of the reserve to the Tyatya volcano, to the picturesque mineralized lakes of the caldera of the oldest Golovnin volcano on the islands, to the thicket of the relict forest along the Stolbovskaya eco-trail, to the fantastic basalt rocks of Cape Stolbchaty, similar to a huge stone organ. And here there are bears of a special gray color, unafraid foxes, curious seals, graceful red-crowned cranes, flocks of thousands of waterfowl on autumn and spring migrations, dark coniferous forests, where one of the rarest birds on the planet lives - the fish owl, impenetrable thickets of bamboo taller than a man, a unique wild magnolia, hot springs and icy mountain rivers, “boiling” from flocks of pink salmon coming to spawn.

Kunashir Island. Volcano Tyatya. Photo: Vlada Valchenko

And also Kunashir - the “black island” - is the village of Goryachiy Plyazh with thermal springs, the steaming solfataras of the Mendeleev volcano and the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, which in the future may become a new center of Far Eastern tourism. Iturup, the largest of the Kuril Islands, has “snowy subtropics”, nine active volcanoes, waterfalls, thermal springs, hot lakes and the Ostrovnoy regional reserve. Shikotan, popular with “wild” hikers, has quaint bays, mountains, seal rookeries and bird colonies. And Cape Krai Sveta, where you can see the freshest sunrise in Russia.

Disputes about the four South Kuril Islands currently owned by Russian Federation, have been going on for quite some time. This land as a result of the signed different time agreements and wars changed hands several times. Currently, these islands are the cause of an unresolved territorial dispute between Russia and Japan.

Discovery of the islands

The issue of the discovery of the Kuril Islands is controversial. According to the Japanese side, the Japanese were the first to set foot on the islands in 1644. A map of that time with the designations “Kunashiri”, “Etorofu” and others marked on it is carefully preserved in the National Museum of Japan. And Russian pioneers, the Japanese believe, first came to the Kuril ridge only during the time of Tsar Peter I, in 1711, and on the Russian map of 1721 these islands are called “Japanese Islands”.

But in reality the situation is different: firstly, the Japanese received the first information about the Kuril Islands (from the Ainu language - “kuru” means “a person who came from nowhere”) from the local Ainu residents (the oldest non-Japanese population of the Kuril Islands and the Japanese Islands) during an expedition to Hokkaido in 1635. Moreover, the Japanese did not reach the Kuril lands themselves due to constant conflicts with the local population.

It should be noted that the Ainu were hostile to the Japanese, and initially treated the Russians well, considering them their “brothers”, due to the similarity in appearance and methods of communication between the Russians and small nations.

Secondly, the Kuril Islands were discovered by the Dutch expedition of Maarten Gerritsen de Vries (Fries) in 1643, the Dutch were looking for the so-called. "Golden Lands" The Dutch did not like the lands, and they sold their detailed description and map to the Japanese. It was on the basis of Dutch data that the Japanese compiled their maps.

Thirdly, the Japanese at that time did not control not only the Kuril Islands, but even Hokkaido; only their stronghold was in its southern part. The Japanese began conquering the island at the beginning of the 17th century, and the fight against the Ainu continued for two centuries. That is, if the Russians were interested in expansion, then Hokkaido could become a Russian island. It made it easier good attitude the Ainu towards the Russians and their enmity towards the Japanese. There are also records of this fact. The Japanese state of that time did not officially consider itself the sovereign of not only Sakhalin and the Kuril lands, but also Hokkaido (Matsumae) - this was confirmed in a circular by the head of the Japanese government, Matsudaira, during Russian-Japanese negotiations on the border and trade in 1772.

Fourthly, Russian explorers visited the islands before the Japanese. In the Russian state, the first mention of the Kuril lands dates back to 1646, when Nekhoroshko Ivanovich Kolobov gave a report to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich about the campaigns of Ivan Yuryevich Moskvitin and spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the Kuril Islands. In addition, Dutch, Scandinavian and German medieval chronicles and maps report about the first Russian settlements in the Kuril Islands at that time. The first reports about the Kuril lands and their inhabitants reached the Russians in the middle of the 17th century.

In 1697, during the expedition of Vladimir Atlasov to Kamchatka, new information about the islands appeared; the Russians explored the islands as far as Simushir (island middle group Great ridge of the Kuril Islands).

XVIII century

Peter I knew about the Kuril Islands; in 1719, the tsar sent a secret expedition to Kamchatka under the leadership of Ivan Mikhailovich Evreinov and Fyodor Fedorovich Luzhin. Marine surveyor Evreinov and surveyor-cartographer Luzhin had to determine whether there was a strait between Asia and America. The expedition reached the island of Simushir in the south and brought local residents and rulers to swear allegiance to the Russian state.

In 1738-1739, the navigator Martyn Petrovich Shpanberg (Danish by origin) walked along the entire Kuril ridge, put all the islands he encountered on the map, including the entire Small Kuril ridge (these are 6 large and a number of small islands that are separated from the Great Kuril ridge in the South -Kuril Strait). He explored the lands as far as Hokkaido (Matsumaya), bringing the local Ainu rulers to swear allegiance to the Russian state.

Subsequently, the Russians avoided voyages to the southern islands and developed the northern territories. Unfortunately, at this time, abuses against the Ainu were noted not only by the Japanese, but also by the Russians.

In 1771, the Lesser Kuril Ridge was removed from Russia and came under the protectorate of Japan. The Russian authorities sent the nobleman Antipin with the translator Shabalin to rectify the situation. They were able to persuade the Ainu to restore Russian citizenship. In 1778-1779, Russian envoys brought more than 1.5 thousand people from Iturup, Kunashir and even Hokkaido into citizenship. In 1779, Catherine II freed those who had accepted Russian citizenship from all taxes.

In 1787, the “Extensive Land Description of the Russian State...” contained a list of the Kuril Islands up to Hokkaido-Matsumaya, the status of which had not yet been determined. Although the Russians did not control the lands south of Urup Island, the Japanese were active there.

In 1799, by order of seii-taishogun Tokugawa Ienari, he headed the Tokugawa Shogunate, two outposts were built on Kunashir and Iturup, and permanent garrisons were placed there. Thus, the Japanese secured the status of these territories within Japan by military means.

Satellite image of the Lesser Kuril Ridge

Treaty

In 1845, the Empire of Japan unilaterally announced its power over all of Sakhalin and the Kuril ridge. This naturally caused a violent negative reaction from the Russian Emperor Nicholas I. But the Russian Empire did not have time to take action; the events of the Crimean War prevented it. Therefore, it was decided to make concessions and not bring matters to war.

On February 7, 1855, the first diplomatic agreement was concluded between Russia and Japan - Treaty of Shimoda. It was signed by Vice Admiral E.V. Putyatin and Toshiakira Kawaji. According to Article 9 of the treaty, “permanent peace and sincere friendship between Russia and Japan” were established. Japan ceded the islands from Iturup and to the south, Sakhalin was declared a joint, indivisible possession. Russians in Japan received consular jurisdiction, Russian ships received the right to enter the ports of Shimoda, Hakodate, and Nagasaki. The Russian Empire received most favored nation treatment in trade with Japan and received the right to open consulates in ports open to Russians. That is, in general, especially considering the difficult international situation of Russia, the agreement can be assessed positively. Since 1981, the Japanese have celebrated the day of signing the Shimoda Treaty as “Northern Territories Day.”

It should be noted that in fact, the Japanese received the right to the “Northern Territories” only for “permanent peace and sincere friendship between Japan and Russia,” most favored nation treatment in trade relations. Their further actions de facto canceled this agreement.

Initially, the provision of the Shimoda Treaty on joint ownership of Sakhalin Island was more beneficial for the Russian Empire, which was actively colonizing this territory. The Japanese Empire did not have a good navy, so at that time it did not have such an opportunity. But later the Japanese began to intensively populate the territory of Sakhalin, and the question of its ownership began to become increasingly controversial and acute. The contradictions between Russia and Japan were resolved by signing the St. Petersburg Treaty.

St. Petersburg Treaty. It was signed in the capital of the Russian Empire on April 25 (May 7), 1875. Under this agreement, the Empire of Japan transferred Sakhalin to Russia as full ownership, and in exchange received all the islands of the Kuril chain.

St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875 (Japanese Foreign Ministry Archive).

As a result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and Treaty of Portsmouth On August 23 (September 5), 1905, the Russian Empire, according to Article 9 of the agreement, ceded southern Sakhalin to Japan, south of 50 degrees north latitude. Article 12 contained an agreement to conclude a convention on Japanese fishing along the Russian shores of the Japanese, Okhotsk and Bering Seas.

After the death of the Russian Empire and the beginning of foreign intervention, the Japanese occupied Northern Sakhalin and participated in the occupation of the Far East. When the Bolshevik Party won the victory in Civil War, Japan did not want to recognize the USSR for a long time. Only after the Soviet authorities canceled the status of the Japanese consulate in Vladivostok in 1924 and in the same year the USSR was recognized by Great Britain, France and China, the Japanese authorities decided to normalize relations with Moscow.

Beijing Treaty. On February 3, 1924, official negotiations between the USSR and Japan began in Beijing. Only on January 20, 1925, the Soviet-Japanese convention on the basic principles of relations between countries was signed. The Japanese pledged to withdraw their forces from the territory of Northern Sakhalin by May 15, 1925. The declaration of the USSR government, which was attached to the convention, emphasized that the Soviet government did not share with the former government of the Russian Empire political responsibility for the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty of 1905. In addition, the convention enshrined the agreement of the parties that all agreements, treaties and conventions concluded between Russia and Japan before November 7, 1917, except for the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, should be revised.

In general, the USSR made great concessions: in particular, Japanese citizens, companies and associations were granted the rights to exploit natural raw materials throughout the Soviet Union. On July 22, 1925, a contract was signed to grant the Japanese Empire a coal concession, and on December 14, 1925, an oil concession in Northern Sakhalin. Moscow agreed to this agreement in order to stabilize the situation in the Russian Far East, since the Japanese supported the White Guards outside the USSR. But in the end, the Japanese began to systematically violate the convention and create conflict situations.

During the Soviet-Japanese negotiations that took place in the spring of 1941 regarding the conclusion of a neutrality treaty, the Soviet side raised the issue of liquidating Japan's concessions in Northern Sakhalin. The Japanese gave their written consent to this, but delayed the implementation of the agreement for 3 years. Only when the USSR began to gain the upper hand over the Third Reich did the Japanese government implement the agreement that had been given earlier. Thus, on March 30, 1944, a Protocol was signed in Moscow on the destruction of Japanese oil and coal concessions in Northern Sakhalin and the transfer of all Japanese concession property to the Soviet Union.

February 11, 1945 at the Yalta conference three great powers - the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain - reached a verbal agreement on the USSR's entry into the war with the Japanese Empire on the terms of the return of South Sakhalin and the Kuril ridge to it after the end of World War II.

In the Potsdam Declaration dated July 26, 1945, it was stated that Japanese sovereignty would be limited only to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and other smaller islands, which would be designated by the victorious countries. The Kuril Islands were not mentioned.

After the defeat of Japan, on January 29, 1946, Memorandum No. 677 of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Powers, American General Douglas MacArthur, excluded the Chishima Islands (Kuril Islands), the Habomadze group of islands (Habomai) and the Sikotan Island (Shikotan) from Japanese territory.

According to San Francisco Peace Treaty dated September 8, 1951, the Japanese side renounced all rights to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. But the Japanese claim that Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Habomai (islands of the Lesser Kuril Islands) were not part of the Chishima Islands (Kuril Islands) and they did not abandon them.

Negotiations in Portsmouth (1905) - from left to right: from the Russian side (far part of the table) - Planson, Nabokov, Witte, Rosen, Korostovets.

Further agreements

Joint Declaration. On October 19, 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan adopted a Joint Declaration. The document ended the state of war between the countries and restored diplomatic relations, and also spoke of Moscow’s consent to the transfer of the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to the Japanese side. But they were supposed to be handed over only after the signing of a peace treaty. However, later Japan was forced to refuse to sign a peace treaty with the USSR. The United States threatened not to give up Okinawa and the entire Ryukyu Archipelago to the Japanese if they renounced their claims to the other islands of the Lesser Kuril chain.

After Tokyo signed the Cooperation and Security Treaty with Washington in January 1960, extending the American military presence on the Japanese Islands, Moscow announced that it refused to consider the issue of transferring the islands to the Japanese side. The statement was justified by the security issue of the USSR and China.

In 1993 it was signed Tokyo Declaration about Russian-Japanese relations. It stated that the Russian Federation is the legal successor of the USSR and recognizes the 1956 agreement. Moscow has expressed its readiness to begin negotiations on territorial claims Japan. In Tokyo this was assessed as a sign of impending victory.

In 2004, the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, made a statement that Moscow recognizes the 1956 Declaration and is ready to negotiate a peace treaty based on it. In 2004-2005, this position was confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But the Japanese insisted on the transfer of 4 islands, so the issue was not resolved. Moreover, the Japanese gradually increased their pressure; for example, in 2009, the head of the Japanese government at a government meeting called the Lesser Kuril Ridge “illegally occupied territories.” In 2010 and early 2011, the Japanese became so excited that some military experts began to talk about the possibility of a new Russian-Japanese war. Only the spring natural disaster - the consequences of a tsunami and a terrible earthquake, the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant - cooled Japan's ardor.

As a result, the loud statements of the Japanese led to Moscow declaring that the islands are the territory of the Russian Federation legally following the Second World War, this is enshrined in the UN Charter. And Russian sovereignty over the Kuril Islands, which has the appropriate international legal confirmation, is beyond doubt. Plans were also announced to develop the islands' economy and strengthen Russia's military presence there.

Strategic importance of the islands

Economic factor. The islands are economically underdeveloped, but they have deposits of valuable and rare earth metals - gold, silver, rhenium, titanium. The waters are rich in biological resources; the seas that wash the shores of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are among the most productive areas of the World Ocean. Great importance They also have shelves where hydrocarbon deposits have been found.

Political factor. The cession of the islands will sharply lower Russia’s status in the world, and there will be a legal opportunity to review other results of the Second World War. For example, they may require you to give Kaliningrad region Germany or part of Karelia Finland.

Military factor. The transfer of the South Kuril Islands will provide the Japanese and US naval forces with free access to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. It will allow our potential adversaries to exercise control over strategically important strait zones, which will sharply worsen the deployment capabilities of the Russian Pacific Fleet, including nuclear submarines with intercontinental ballistic missiles. This will be a strong blow to the military security of the Russian Federation.

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Good day, dear viewers! Today, after a short pause to collect information again, I want to take you on a mini-trip to the Kuril Islands)
I chose the musical composition according to my own taste, if you don’t like it, as usual, stop in the player)

I wish everyone a pleasant experience!
Let's go)

The next episode of "Unknown Russia" is dedicated to the Kuril Islands, or the Kuril Islands - a stumbling block in Russian-Japanese relations.

The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido, separating the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean with a convex arc. The length of the arc is about 1200 km. The archipelago includes 30 large and many small islands. The Kuril Islands are part of the Sakhalin region.

The four southern islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai - are disputed by Japan, which on its maps includes them as part of Hokkaido Prefecture and considers them "temporarily occupied."

There are 68 volcanoes on the Kuril Islands, 36 of which are active.

There are permanent populations only in Paramushir, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan.

Before the arrival of the Russians and Japanese, the islands were inhabited by the Ainu. In their language, "kuru" meant "a person who came from nowhere." The word “kuru” turned out to be consonant with our “smoke” - after all, there is always smoke above the volcanoes

In Russia, the first mention of the Kuril Islands dates back to 1646, when traveler N.I. Kolobov 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 Japanese received the first information about the islands during an expedition to Hokkaido in 1635. It is not known whether she actually got to the Kuril Islands or learned about them indirectly from local residents, but in 1644 the Japanese compiled a map on which the Kuril Islands were designated under the collective name “thousand islands.”

Throughout the 18th century, Russians intensively explored the Kuril Islands. In 1779, Catherine II, by her decree, freed all islanders who had accepted Russian citizenship from all taxes.

In 1875, Russia and Japan agreed that the Kuril Islands belonged to Japan and Sakhalin to Russia, but after the defeat in Russian-Japanese war In 1905, Russia transferred the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan.

In February 1945, the Soviet Union promised the United States and Great Britain to start a war with Japan, subject to the return of the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Japan, as you know, was defeated, the islands were returned to the USSR.

On September 8, 1951, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, according to which it renounced “all rights, title and claims to the Kuril Islands and to that part of Sakhalin Island and adjacent islands, sovereignty over which Japan acquired under the Treaty of Portsmouth of September 5, 1905 of the year". However, due to many other serious shortcomings of the San Francisco Treaty, representatives of the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia and a number of other countries refused to sign it. This now gives Japan the formal right to make its belated claim to ownership of the islands.

As you can see, there is no way to understand the question of who should own the Kuril Islands. For now they belong to us. In international law, they belong to the so-called “disputed territories”.

Iturup

The largest island of the archipelago. Located in its southern part. The population is about 6 thousand people. Iturup is located main city archipelago - Kurilsk. There are 9 active volcanoes on Iturup.

Kunashir Island

The southernmost island of the Kuril ridge. The population is about 8 thousand people. The administrative center is the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk. In Yuzhno-Kurilsk there is an obelisk monument in honor of the liberation of the island, on which it is written: “In this area in September 1945, Soviet troops landed. Historical justice was restored: the original Russian lands - the Kuril Islands - were liberated from Japanese militarists and forever reunited with their motherland - Russia."

The island has 4 active volcanoes and many thermal springs, which are places of recreation. It is separated from Japan by only a 25-kilometer strait. The main attraction is Cape Stolbchaty, a fifty-meter rock made of almost regular hexagons, tightly adjacent to each other in the form of rods.

(pink salmon spawning)

Shumshu Island

The northernmost of the Kuril Islands, during World War II it was a powerful military fortress of the Japanese. A 20,000-strong garrison with tanks, pillboxes and airfields was based on it. The capture of Shumshu by Soviet troops was a decisive event in the entire Kuril operation. Now there are leftovers everywhere Japanese technology. Very picturesque.

That's all for today!)
Thank you all for another portion of attention and interest in your country)
World!