Russia to raise military presence on disputed Kuril islands
Russia has military bases on the Kuril Pacific archipelago, while Japan claims four of the islands in a dispute that has simmered since the second world war, preventing the countries ever signing a peace treaty
Russia said yesterday it is taking “unprecedented measures” to upgrade its military presence on
the far eastern Kuril Islands claimed by Japan, including plans to set up a new base on an uninhabited island.
Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin, commander of the eastern military district, announced the “unprecedented measures to develop military infrastructure in the area”, the defence ministry said in a statement.
He said Russia was taking the steps to “exclude the emergence of even the smallest risks.”
Russia has military bases on the Kuril Pacific archipelago, while Japan claims four of the islands in a dispute that has simmered since the second world war, preventing the countries ever signing a peace treaty. Soviet troops seized the four at the end of the second world war just after Japan surrendered.
Surovikin listed the measures being taken as “a planned rearmament of the formations and units and boosting the level of social protection for all categories of serving soldiers and their family members”.