The current political and legal problem of territorial demarcation between Russia and Japan. In the Joint collection of documents on the history of territorial delimitation between Russia and Japan, prepared in 1992... ... All Japan

To Dalnevost. econ. area, pl. 87.1 thousand km²; adm. center - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Covers about. Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which are located in a tectonically active zone on the border of Eurasia and the Pacific Ocean. High seismicity is observed everywhere; ... Geographical encyclopedia

In Russian federation. 87.1 thousand km2. Population 647.8 thousand people (1998), urban 82%. 18 cities, 31 urban villages. Center Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. It is washed by the waters of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Sea of ​​Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Includes Sakhalin Island and... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Coordinates: 50°51′06″ N. w. 156°34′08″ E. d. / 50.851667° n. w. 156.568889° E. d. ... Wikipedia

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Disputed islands with Russian and Japanese names The problem of ownership of the southern Kuril Islands (Japanese 北方領土問題 Hoppo: ryo:do ... Wikipedia

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I will not be mistaken if I confidently state that, probably, everyone, at least half an ear, has heard about this problem. The “Northern Territories” (for Russia, the southern ones) have long been a stumbling block in relations between the two neighboring countries, Russia and Japan. This long-standing dispute mixes up a lot: history, international law, foreign and domestic policy, military strategy, national feelings, etc. Basically, it is viewed from two sides: from the point of view of international law and from the point of view of history, that is, priority in discovery and research.

In this article I would like to highlight the relationship between the two countries regarding the territorial affiliation of the South Kuril Islands and Sakhalin and interest the reader in this problem, in forming their own views.

So, the problem of the “northern territories”. These territories include three relatively large ones (Shikotan, Iturup, Kunashir) and a number of small islands of the Kuril ridge, the so-called Habomai ridge (Polonsky, Zeleny, Tanfilyeva, Yuri, Anuchina, Demina, Signalny, Lissi, Shishki). The dispute about who owns this territory permeates the entire history of relations between the two neighboring states, either fading or intensifying again. For example, in Soviet times this problem simply “did not exist.” The Soviet government did not recognize its existence. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia became its successor. Russia, which calls itself a democratic state. Russia, which strives to transfer its economy to “market tracks” with minimal losses. A Russia that wants to cooperate closely with other states and intends to become a full-fledged and full-fledged member of the modern international community, which is new to us both economically and in many other aspects. At such a moment, it is natural to remember the existence of this problem, since Japan is one of the attractive economic partners in the rather promising Asia-Pacific region. The situation is complicated by the fact that for many years of the Cold War, Japan was, figuratively speaking, “on the other side of the barricades” and at a time when many of us did not even suspect the existence of a problem, active anti-Soviet propaganda was carried out there. As a result, today we have a rather reactionary Japanese public opinion.

Development of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands and the formation of the Russian-Japanese border

The beginning of the formation of the Russian-Japanese maritime border in the area of ​​Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, as well as the beginning of the exploration of these territories in general, dates back to the 17th century. It is assumed that the first to know about Sakhalin were the Nivkhs, who visited the island in winter, when the narrow part of the strait froze. Sometimes in the summer they sailed across the Tatar Strait on their boats. The first relatively accurate information about Sakhalin in Russia came from members of the expedition under the leadership of the writer V.D. Poyarkov in 1643 - 1646 However, the existence of islands in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk could have been suspected even before this. In the description of the expedition of Maxim Perfilyev in 1693 - 1641. on the Vitim and Amur rivers it is said that the mouth of the Amur is free, there is no peninsula here, and that Chinese merchant ships sail along the Tatar Strait (in order to pass from the coast of China, i.e. from the south, to the mouth of the Amur, you need to go through most of the Tatar Strait , including its narrowest section - the Nevelskoy Strait). It is likely that Perfilyev could have known from local peoples about the island lying opposite the mouth of the Amur.

Around the same period, the Russians learned about the Kuril Islands. According to some Russian sources, Fedot Alekseevich Popov, a participant in the Dezhnev expedition in 1648 - 1649, was the first to visit them. The Japanese historian T. Matsunaga wrote: “In 1643 (the 20th year of Kei-an) the Russians came to Kamchatka and discovered the Tisim Islands, the name of which they changed to the Kuril Islands,” and after Bering’s voyage “the Russians occupied the nearest 21 islands,” that is, all the Kuriles, because the 22nd island was called Hokkaido. He also writes about Sakhalin: “They say that the Russians arrived on the island of Karafuto for the first time in 1650 (3rd year of Kei-an’s reign), and from that time on, the northern part of the island became the possession of Russia. Our country, although it claims that Karafuto has long been our possession, there is no real occupation of its territories by us.” There are also sources that speak in favor of the first discovery of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin by the Japanese. For example, the German Japanese scholar F. Siebold reported in the mid-19th century that in 1613 the Japanese traveled to Sakhalin to describe and map it.

D. Garrison wrote that back in 1604, the military ruler of Japan, the shogun, granted Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to Prince Matsumae, and Ray Shiratori argued that the indigenous population of the Kuril Islands had been in vassal relations with the central authorities of Japan since 1615. About who The first to know about the existence of the islands can be debated for a long time, but it is probably worth paying a lot of attention not only to the dates, but also to the very methods of penetration into the islands and the goals that they pursued. The Japanese mainly established trade contacts, and trade was quite active and of an equal nature. Some Ainu left with the Japanese for Hokkaido, being the latter to be hired. For the Russian pioneers, the main task was not so much trade as the annexation of these lands to the Russian state and, in accordance with this, taxation of the local population with yasak, that is, a tax in favor of the treasury. Moreover, the Russians often encountered resistance from the local population and used force. An important role was also played by the fact that in 1638 - 1639. Shogun Iemitsu Tokugawa, outraged by the activities of the Jesuits in Japan, prohibits Christianity and “closes” the country from the outside world. From now on, for many years, any travel abroad is punishable by death. And although the northern borders were not clearly defined, research even on the island of Hokkaido at that time was carried out quietly, unsystematically, and almost no official data about them was preserved. One way or another, we can talk about the discovery and exploration of the islands at about the same time by the Russians from the north, and the Japanese from the south. And despite the fact that Russian researchers had official state support for their research, it is still impossible to talk about the peremptory right to ownership of all the islands of Russia, considering this issue from the point of view of priority in discovery and development. Nevertheless, until the 19th century, i.e., before the first treaty between Russia and Japan, Sakhalin and the Kuril Ridge were considered the territory of the Russian Empire.

Russian-Japanese negotiations of the 19th and early 20th centuries

The beginning of Russian-Japanese diplomatic and trade relations was laid by the Shimoda Treaty on Trade and Borders, concluded on February 7, 1855. It was signed as a result of negotiations led by E. Putyatin. According to this treaty, diplomatic relations were established between Russia and Japan; the subjects of the two countries were to mutually enjoy patronage and protection; the ports of Nagasaki, Shimoda, and Hakodate were opened for Russian ships; the presence of a Russian consul in one of the Japanese cities was allowed since 1856, etc.

The border was established between the islands of Urup and Iturup - i.e. The islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai went to Japan. Sakhalin remained undivided. In the instructions for the negotiations, Nicholas I wrote that it should be done so that “from our side, the southern tip of this island [Urupa] was (as it essentially is now) the border with Japan.”

The next milestone in Russian-Japanese relations was the signing of the St. Petersburg Treaty in 1875, according to which, in exchange for renouncing its claims to the southern part of Sakhalin Island, Japan received the entire Kuril ridge. This was explained in Russian history again as forced actions, consequences of the difficult situation in Russia at that time, which was determined by the following factors:

• The focus of Russian diplomacy in the Middle East, where at that time a crisis and war with Turkey were brewing;
• Russia's position in the Pacific region at that time was not strong enough;

To refute the thesis that Russia was forced to sign the 1875 treaty, one can cite the idea, pursued in a number of studies, that the Russian authorities themselves intended to exchange the Kuril Islands remaining to them after 1855 for the more valuable Sakhalin, as well as evidence of dissatisfaction that flared up in Japan with the 1875 treaty as infringing on the interests of the Japanese state.

USSR - Japan

Young Soviet Russia recognized the Portsmouth Treaty of 1905 as valid. It was concluded after the Russo-Japanese War. Under this treaty, Japan not only retained all of the Kuril Islands, but also received Southern Sakhalin.

This was the situation with the disputed islands before the Second World War - even before 1945. I would like to once again draw general attention to the fact that until the 45th year Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai never belonged to Russia, and to say otherwise means going against facts. Everything that happened after 1945 is no longer so clear.

During almost the entire period of World War II (September 1939 - August 1945), Japan and the Soviet Union were not at war. For in April 1941, a Neutrality Pact was concluded between both countries with a validity period of 5 years. However, on August 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and on the same day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Soviet Union, in violation of the Neutrality Pact, entered the war against Japan, whose defeat was no longer in doubt. A week later, on August 14, Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and capitulated to the Allied powers.

After the end of the war, the entire territory of Japan was occupied by Allied forces. As a result of negotiations between the allies, the territory of Japan proper was subject to occupation by US troops, Taiwan by Chinese troops, and Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands by Soviet troops. The occupation of the Northern Territories was a military occupation, completely bloodless after hostilities, and therefore subject to termination as a result of a territorial settlement under a peace treaty.

During a war, the territory of another country may be occupied and the occupying country, under international law, has the rights to administer it on the basis of military necessity. However, on the other hand, the 1907 Hague Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land and other international legal instruments impose certain obligations on this country, in particular, respect for the private rights of the population. Stalin ignored these international norms and, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on February 2, 1946, included the areas under occupation into the territory of his country.

And here is the opinion of the Japanese side: “We welcome that recently the Russian government has declared that it is considering the territorial problem between Japan and Russia on the basis of legality and justice. It is from the point of view of legality and justice that we believe that the mentioned Decree of the Presidium is illegal and clarification of this is of paramount importance and the appropriation of the territory of another state through such a unilateral act is not legally allowed.”

A peace treaty between Japan and the United States, England and other allied countries was concluded in 1951 in San Francisco. The Soviet Union also took part in the peace conference, but did not sign the San Francisco Treaty. In the San Francisco Conference and the San Francisco Peace Treaty regarding the problem of the Northern Territories, the following two points are significant.

The first is that Japan renounces all rights to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands under the treaty. However, Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and the Habomai ridge, which have always been Japanese territory, are not included in the Kuril Islands, which Japan abandoned. The US government, regarding the scope of the concept of the “Kuril Islands” in the San Francisco Peace Treaty, stated in an official document: “[They] are not included and there was no intention to include [in the Kuril Islands] the Habomai and Shikotan ridges, as well as Kunashir and Iturup, which have always been a part of Japan proper and must therefore rightly be recognized as being under Japanese sovereignty." The second point is related to the fact that the act of annexation by the Soviet Union of South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and the Northern Territories did not receive international recognition. First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A. Gromyko tried to achieve recognition of Soviet sovereignty over these areas, in particular, by proposing amendments to the treaty, but they were rejected by the conference and were not accepted into the contents of the treaty. For this and a number of other reasons, the USSR did not sign the treaty. The San Francisco Treaty makes clear that it does not grant any rights arising from the treaty to non-signatory countries.

Due to the fact that the USSR did not sign the San Francisco Treaty, negotiations were held between June 1955 and October 1956 between Japan and the Soviet Union with the goal of concluding a separate peace treaty between both countries. These negotiations did not lead to an agreement: the Japanese side stated that Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai ridge are the territory of Japan and demanded their return, and the Soviet side took the position that, having agreed to return only Shikotan and Habomai, it could not return Iturup and Kunashir.

As a result, Japan and the USSR, instead of a peace treaty, signed a Joint Declaration, that is, an agreement that provided for the end of the state of war and the restoration of diplomatic relations. Article 9 of this treaty states that after the establishment of diplomatic relations, the parties will continue negotiations to conclude a peace treaty; and the USSR also returns the Habomai ridge and the island of Shikotan after the conclusion of a peace treaty.

The Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration was ratified by the parliaments of both countries and is a treaty deposited with the UN.

In April 1991, the then President of the USSR M. Gorbachev visited Japan. The Japanese-Soviet Statement published at that time explicitly mentioned the Habomai ridge, the islands of Shikotan, Kunashir and Iturup. The parties agreed that “the peace treaty should become a document of the final post-war settlement, including the resolution of the territorial issue,” and an agreement was also reached to speed up the preparation of the peace treaty.

After the August Democratic Revolution, Russian President B. Yeltsin proposed a new approach to the territorial issue inherited by Russia from the USSR, which is naturally and positively assessed since the government of the Russian Federation, inheriting the international legal responsibilities of the USSR, declares compliance with the UN Declaration. This new approach, first, emphasizes an understanding of the fact that as a result of positive changes in today's world, a new international order is emerging, in which the division between winners and losers of the Second World War no longer exists. Secondly, it is emphasized that when resolving the territorial issue, legality and justice become important principles, including respect for international agreements concluded in the past. That's all. There was no further movement.

As for the policies of the current President Putin, Japanese politicians led by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori proposed adhering to the updated Kawan plan for solving the problem, announced in April 1998 by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. The Kavan plan is that after the demarcation of the border and the legal assignment of the islands to Japan, the disputed territories will remain de facto Russian for some time. The Russian delegation rejected this proposal, saying that it could not be considered as a mutually acceptable compromise. Putin, in turn, proposed moving towards a peace treaty gradually, while simultaneously building up the entire range of relations. To this end, Vladimir Putin invited the Prime Minister to pay an official visit to Russia, and the two leaders agreed to hold official meetings at least once a year - analogous to what exists between Moscow and Beijing, our “strategic partner.”

Now about the population of the ill-fated islands. According to Rudakova, head of the social department of the Kurilsk administration, every year the Japanese ask Kuril residents whether they want the islands to go to Japan. On Shikotan, as a rule, 60 percent do not want this, and 40 percent are not against it. On other islands, 70 percent are completely against it. “In Shikotan after the 1994 earthquake, everything is Japanese, even the fruit. People are very used to freebies and don’t want to work. They think that the Japanese will always feed them this way,” states Rudakova. Indeed, this option is not included in the Japanese plans. Back in March 1999, the “Society for the Study of the Problem of Restoring Japanese Sovereignty over the Northern Territories” developed rules according to which the Russians would live on the islands after they were transferred to the Japanese. “Residents of Russian origin who have lived for more than 5 years after restoration on Japanese territory, if they wish, have the opportunity to obtain Japanese citizenship after conducting an appropriate individual check,” the document says.

Nevertheless, Japan, a mononational country in which even the descendants of foreigners who settled several generations ago cannot obtain citizenship, pretends that all the rights of the Russians remaining on the islands will be preserved. So that Kuril residents can see with their own eyes how wonderful their life will be under their new owners, the Japanese spare no expense on receptions. Iochi Nakano, head of the secretariat of the Hokkaido Commission for the Development of Relations with the Northern Islands, said that for just one Russian who came to Hokkaido, the island government spends $1,680, not counting contributions from various public organizations. Japanese authorities seem to see things differently. They are confident that their tactics bring positive results. Iochi Nakano says: “Personally, I think there are few Russians in the northern islands who would like to remain Russians. If such exist, it is all the more important to teach them that the northern territories belong to Japan.” Kuril residents are very surprised by the ability of the Japanese to quickly believe in what they want and pass it off as reality. Rimma Rudakova recalls how in September 2000, when Putin was in Okinawa, the Japanese hosts of the group began to furiously argue that the decision had already been made to transfer Shikotan and Habomai, and even started talking about starting negotiations on the transfer of southern Sakhalin. “When we left ten days later, they expressed regret that this had not happened,” she said.

Conclusion

So, what did the Russian-Japanese territorial dispute come to? Statements about the Kuril Islands belonging to one of the disputing parties based on priorities in the first discovery, first description, first settlement, first development and first annexation in the legal sense do not outweigh each other. In international legal terms, the Kuril Islands were partially assigned to Japan under the Shimoda Treaty of 1855 and fully under the St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875. As for the Shimoda, St. Petersburg and Portsmouth treaties, their status as international legal acts requires taking into account, signed by representatives of both states and subject to strict compliance. References to the fact that Russia was forced to sign these treaties are untenable. An important point is the agreement of the USSR, recorded in the Beijing Treaty of 1925, that the Portsmouth Treaty remains in force. It is also difficult to agree with the current interpretation of the Beijing Treaty as temporary for the USSR. Did Japan abandon the “northern territories” at the end of World War II? To answer this question, it is important to decide whether or not the “disputed islands” belong to the concept of the “Kuril Islands”. An analysis of the Shimoda and St. Petersburg treaties does not confirm the correctness of either the Japanese side, which excludes the “northern territories” from the Kuril Islands, or the Soviet side, which takes the opposite position. As for the San Francisco Treaty, while it formalized Japan's renunciation of the Kuril Islands, it did not clarify the geographical limits of this concept. Under this treaty, Japan renounced the Kuril Islands, but not a single international legal document defines either the addressee of this refusal or the very concept of the Kuril Islands (that is, the possibility remains for statements that the “northern territories” do not belong to the Kuril Islands).

Below are two views on the problem.

“Why are the islands ours?” Russia's point of view

Complete and unconditional surrender (which Japan announced after defeat in the war) means not only the recognition of defeat in hostilities, but also the cessation of the existence of the state as a subject of international relations, the loss of its sovereignty and powers, which pass to the winners. Thus, post-war Japan (as well as post-war Germany and the GDR, and even the current united Germany) are not continuers of the subjectivity of pre-war states; these are new states created on the terms of allies within new borders, with new constitutions and authorities. Thus, being a new state, Japan cannot demand the “return” of the islands, which, moreover, it abandoned under the San Francisco Peace Treaty.

“Why are the islands ours?” Japan's point of view

Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai have always been Japanese territory and are not among the “areas captured by Japan through violence and greed” mentioned in the Cairo Declaration. The act of annexation of the Northern Territories contradicted the principle of non-expansion of territories, which was proclaimed by the same declaration.

As for the Yalta Agreement, Japan, which did not sign it and did not even know about it at the time of signing, does not consider itself bound by it. Moreover, the Yalta Agreement is merely a document outlining general goals and does not constitute a legal basis for the transfer of territory.

Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai are not part of the Kuril Islands, which Japan renounced under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, since they are traditional Japanese territory. Moreover, the treaty does not stipulate their transfer to the USSR anywhere.

Additional argument: the islands of Shikotan and Habomai do not belong to the Kuril Islands, but are part of the island system of Hokkaido. In turn, the concept of “Kuril Islands” does not cover the “special geographical unit” - the “Southern Kuril Islands”, i.e. Kunashir and Iturup.

NB: the last argument is very controversial in the part that relates to the islands of Kunashir and Iturup - the “Southern Kuriles” have never been identified as an independent group on geographical maps. The attribution of Shikotan to the Hokkaido island system is also controversial. On the other hand, the Habomai most likely do relate to her. But this question must be left to geologists.

And in conclusion of all this, let’s remember what N. Lomanovich wrote before M.S.’s visit. Gorbachev to Japan (1991): “... both sides provide numerous historical references, from which it is absolutely clear: the disputed islands have always been primordially Japanese (Russian) lands. These statements are perhaps immoral on both sides. Let's remember that the Kuril Islands are, first of all, the ancestral land of the Ainu."

Literature

1. Bondarenko O.“Unknown Kuriles” M. 1992.
2. Eremin V.“Russia - Japan. Territorial problem: searching for a solution.” M. 1992.
3. Markov A.P.“Russia - Japan. In search of agreement." M. 1996.
4. Rep. ed. Krushanov A.I. “History of the Far East of the USSR from ancient times to the 17th century.” M. 1989.
5. Rep. ed. Khazanov A.M. “Russia - CIS - Asia. Problems and prospects for cooperation.” M. 1993.
6. "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" from 1991
7. “Japan times” No. 2230
8. "Soviet Sakhalin" No. 142 from 04.08.01
9. Internet sites: http://www.lenta.ru; http://www.vld.ru/ppx/kurily; http://www.strana.ru; http://subscribe.ru/archive

Don't think Japan is interested in islands. It is aimed at expanding living space due to the huge water area.

Know the limits in friendship too
Japanese proverb

Perhaps at the end of August - beginning of September, President Putin will visit the Land of the Rising Sun. True, the Japanese said that the visit of the Russian president will take place only if Russia confirms that it agrees to negotiate for the return of not two, but all four territories to Japan - the islands of the Lesser Kuril chain (or, as the Japanese call them, Habomai), Shikotan , Kunashir and Iturup. Apparently, in response to this condition, Putin is going to visit one of the Kuril Islands, Shumshu, as part of an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society in August. According to another version, Putin may go to Crimea. Of course, in Tauride Chersonese there is a chance, according to tradition, to find an ancient amphora... But on the almost uninhabited Kuril island of Shumshu, even without preliminary planting of artifacts by the presidential security service and eminent archaeologists, you can find Japanese dishes, a gas mask from the Second World War or the helmet of a Japanese soldier...

Shumshu Island

A drawn bow will weaken sooner or later
Japanese proverb

It must be said that on none of the Kuril Islands were there such fierce battles as on Shumshu Island between the troops of the USSR and the Japanese Empire. On Shumshu there were 34 pillboxes and 24 bunkers, several powerful strongholds, and 310 firing points. Several military airfields were built on the island. One of them, even in the mid-90s, still received helicopters from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Naval bases and airfields had powerful air defense.

The huge dungeons contained living quarters, hospitals, communication centers, and food warehouses. Sometimes the depth of these underground shelters reached 50 meters, which completely protected them from powerful artillery shells. Some of these man-made caves are still well preserved.

By August 23, 1945, on Shumshu Island, the Red Army disarmed and captured 526 Japanese generals and officers, as well as 11,700 soldiers. In total, during the liberation of the Kuril Islands until September 1, 1945, almost 60 thousand military personnel surrendered.

During his visit to the Kuril Islands, President Dmitry Medvedev photographed the sites of fierce fighting, 2010. Photo: RIA Novosti

According to official data, during the five days of fighting on Shumshu Island, 839 Soviet soldiers and officers and about a thousand Japanese military personnel died.

To Shumshu, to the sites of fierce battles, the Japanese now often come on a visa-free exchange to bow to the memory of their fallen fellow citizens and leave candles and sweets on damaged Japanese tanks.

By the way, the Japanese do not need a visa to visit the Kuril Islands (they consider this territory theirs, so Russia made concessions to them so as not to offend their feelings), and for Russians, entry to the Kuril Islands is only with written permission from the FSB border service, since the Kuril Islands are This is the border zone.

Unconditional surrender

It is better for the general of a defeated army not to talk about battles
Japanese proverb

On August 14, 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender. But according to the report of the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Army General Alexei Antonov, dated August 16, 1945, “surrender was only a general declaration.” “The order to the armed forces to cease hostilities has not yet been issued, and the Japanese armed forces continue to resist. Therefore, the armed forces of the Soviet Union in the Far East will continue their offensive operations against Japan.” This is a very important point, since the Japanese government always claims that the Kuril Islands were occupied by the Soviet Union after Japan announced its surrender. This means, according to the Japanese, the islands were “stolen” by the Soviet Union already in peacetime. In fact, Japan officially signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender only on September 2, 1945.

Complete and unconditional surrender is fundamentally different from simple capitulation, which means the admission of defeat in hostilities and does not affect the international legal personality of the defeated power. Such a state retains sovereignty and itself negotiates peace terms. And complete and unconditional surrender means the cessation of the existence of a subject of international relations, the dismantling of the former state, the loss of its sovereignty and all powers of power, which pass to the winners, who determine the conditions of peace and the post-war system. In place of the former state, a new subject of international law emerges. The Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic and Japan are new states. They were created on the terms of allies in new borders, with new constitutions and authorities. Today's Japan is not a successor to the Japanese state, which started and lost the war, and therefore has no right to demand the “return” of the islands. By the way, in World War II, Japan lost 44% of its territories. “What does it mean to reconsider and reclaim these islands? This means admitting that the actions taken against Japan were unlawful. That is, Japan was not an aggressor, but a victim. And this is very important for Japan and its mentality,” says former Russian Consul General in Sapporo Vasily Saplin.

But here’s what, for example, the chairman of the Japanese Privy Council, Hara Kado, said at the imperial meeting on July 2, 1941: “Someone might say that in connection with the Neutrality Pact, it would be unethical for Japan to attack the Soviet Union. But the Soviet Union itself was accustomed to non-compliance with agreements. If we attack the Soviet Union, no one will consider it a betrayal. I look forward to the opportunity to strike the Soviet Union. I ask the army and government to do this as soon as possible. The Soviet Union must be destroyed."

Japanese tank on Shumshu Island. Photo: website esosedi.org

In the argumentation of official Tokyo about the ownership of the Kuril Islands, a special place is occupied by references to treaties of the 19th century - the Shimoda Trade Treaty of 1855 (according to which the border was drawn between the islands of Urup and Iturup, and Sakhalin remained undelimited), as well as the St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875 (according to to which Japan recognized all of Sakhalin as Russian in exchange for the transfer of all the Kuril Islands to it). However, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 crossed out all previous agreements, since, according to international law, a state of war between states terminates the validity of all treaties between them. By the way, this is exactly what Japan indicated to the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire, Count Witte, who tried to retain Southern Sakhalin for Russia at the Portsmouth negotiations in 1905, referring specifically to the 1875 treaty. As a result, according to the Treaty of Portsmouth, Russia ceded all the Kuril Islands and Southern Sakhalin to victorious Japan, which was always considered by Russian diplomacy as a great defeat.

Declarations, promises, confessions...

Fallen chrysanthemum will not return to the bush
Japanese proverb

The Soviet-Japanese declaration of October 19, 1956 talks about the end of the state of war, as well as the USSR’s agreement to transfer the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan - but after concluding a peace treaty. However, a declaration is not an agreement, but a protocol of intent. And the declaration is not about returning, but about the transfer, that is, about the readiness to dispose of one’s territory as a matter of good will.

Former Russian Consul General in Sapporo Vasily Saplin says about the 1956 declaration: “It was a big political game. This was an attempt to get Japan out of complete US control. There was an idea to make Japan a neutral Eastern Finland. How the USSR managed to do this with Finland in the 50s. And the bet was made on the fact that Japan depended on the USSR for accession to the UN. The consent of the USSR was needed. The second point is fishing. All these negotiations in 1956 were promoted by the Japanese fish lobby. And Prime Minister Hatoyama was also from this lobby ( Ichiro Hatoyama - Prime Minister of Japan from 1954 to 1956. — EAT.). But all these ideas were dashed by a call from the Japanese Foreign Minister [Mamoru Shigemitsu] to the United States, where then CIA Director Allen Dulles brainwashed the minister and said that Japan should claim all four islands. If you agree to two, you won’t get Okinawa back.” ( Mamoru Shigemitsu was the leader of the Japanese delegation in London to restore diplomatic relations with the USSR. It was Shigemitsu who signed the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese government on September 2, 1945 years aboard the battleship Missouri. Shigemitsu was then convicted by the International Military Tribunal as one of the main war criminals. — EAT.)

Japanese ships were detained by Russian border guards for illegal fishing. 1990 Photo: TASS

“Japan’s actual recognition of the Soviet border on the Kuril Islands is the fishing agreements it signed with the Soviet Union, in particular the agreements of 1963 and 1981. ( Agreements between the USSR and Japan on the fishing of seaweed by Japanese fishermen in the area of ​​the island. Signalny (Small Kuril Ridge), which stated that "Japanese fishermen<…>must comply with the laws, regulations and rules of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in force in the area." True, in the 1998 agreement, this most important condition, which had been in force for over thirty years, disappeared. It says: “The parties shall cooperate to carry out the harvesting of living resources by Japanese fishing vessels in the sea area<…>off the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, as well as the conservation, rational use and reproduction of living resources in this marine area.” That is, Russia cooperates with a foreign state fishing in our territorial waters, and does not allow it to conduct this fishing for an appropriate fee, as is always the case in such cases. — EAT.) Japan’s demands for the transfer of the South Kuril Islands to it are nothing more than a reluctance to recognize the territorial results of the Second World War, and therefore the signing of a peace treaty between the Russian Federation and Japan on the terms put forward by Japan will mean legal confirmation of the revision of these results, with all the dangerous consequences that this entails consequences not only for the Asia-Pacific region, given that there are more than enough potentially conflicting and disputed territories left in the world after the Second World War,” said Igor Latyshev, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, former correspondent for the Pravda newspaper in Japan.

“Returning to the logic of the Shimoda Treaty of 1855, Japan now does not indicate its interest in Sakhalin<…>, but then [after the transfer of the Kuril Islands] the next step will be to officially present Japan's claim to joint ownership of the island of Sakhalin.<…>I see a great desire among the current leaders in the Kremlin to do everything in the name of common human values; the next step is Sakhalin Island. And what will we have left in the Far East? The Pacific Fleet will cease to exist, it will be just a mosquito fleet, torpedo boats. The Sea of ​​Okhotsk is becoming open, now it is semi-closed, almost the entire continental shelf belongs to Russia, the resources are thick water, otherwise it will generally be open, which means the presence of foreign military forces, and great damage will be caused to the basing of the nuclear submarine fleet,” he said at the meeting round table “Russian-Japanese territorial dispute: history, modernity, prospects for settlement” Boris Tkachenko, leading researcher at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East. True, to all the concerns of Russian scientists about Japan’s potential claims to the island of Sakhalin, the director of the Russian department of the Office of Europe of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Kodera Jiro, certainly answers: “We will not demand Sakhalin from you - that’s clear.”

Map from the Japanese brochure “Activities of the Japanese Government to Assist Russia.” The islands of Shikotan, Kunashir, Iturup and the Lesser Kuril Ridge (Habomai) are painted in the colors of the Japanese state, and the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the rest of the Kuril Islands, starting from Urup Island and ending with Shumshu Island, are indicated in white, meaning that Japan does not recognize the sovereignty of Russia over these territories. PDF

In the early 90s, the Japanese offered Russia money for the Kuril Islands - $28 billion. In just one year of official seafood fishing in the waters of the Kuril Islands, you can get more than 4 billion dollars, that is, in just 7 years, Japan would have more than returned this money. And this would be in addition to the increased authority and willpower of the Japanese state in defending national interests. The Third (Extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies of Russia (March-April 1991) accused Gorbachev of trying to sell part of state territory to foreigners. The Kuril Islands were not sold, but during his visit to Japan, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev recognized the equal rights of the USSR and Japan in the dispute over the ownership of the Southern Kuril Islands.

And then there was the five-stage plan of Russian President Boris Yeltsin to resolve the territorial problem between Russia and Japan. In particular, at one stage a joint protectorate of Russia and Japan over the Southern Kuril Islands was envisaged.

Boris Yeltsin and his wife during a “no tie” meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan, 1998. Photo: RIA Novosti

In 2001, at a meeting between President Putin and Prime Minister Mori, an informal agreement was concluded on the gradual transfer of the “Northern Territories” to Japan: first the Lesser Kuril Ridge and Shikotan Island, and only then the signing of a peace treaty. And the islands of Kunashir and Iturup will be given for joint economic use by Russia and Japan until their status is finalized.

“I have information that during Putin’s visit (2001) some kind of memorandum was signed, which even provided for the holding of campaign events by the Russian media,<…>that is, it will not be Japanese propaganda, but the Japanese government will pay for the Russian media<…>, where the Japanese point of view will be reflected and imposed on Russian public opinion,” said Boris Tkachenko, leading researcher at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East at the meeting of the mentioned round table.

Japan's next prime minister, Koizumi, had already demanded that Russia give up all four islands even before the peace treaty was concluded. “We are of the view that from 1945 to this day, the former Soviet Union occupied them, and now they are occupied. The Northern Territories are an administrative unit of Hokkaido,” said former Governor of Hokkaido Tatsuya Hori.

In this regard, I would like to recall the memorandum of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Powers MacArthur to the Japanese Imperial Government No. 677 dated January 29, 1946, according to which the “Kuril Islands, the Habomai group of islands, as well as the island of Shikotan” were excluded from the territory of Japan. In other words, the entire Kuril ridge is 29 islands.

“Give it back, Russian!”

To wish a lot is to wish nothing
Japanese proverb

The return of the Kuril Islands turned into a national idea for the Japanese. Every year, considerable funds are allocated from the state budget for the program to return the Northern Territories. "Japanese propaganda pamphlets and films tell us that the 'Northern Territory' is the original land of Japan and has never belonged to any country other than Japan as far as international agreements are concerned."

On Japanese geographical maps, the islands of the Lesser Kuril chain, Shikotan Island, Kunashir Island and Iturup Island are painted in the color of the Japanese state, and the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands, starting from Urup Island and ending with Shumshu Island, are painted white, meaning that Japan does not recognize Russian sovereignty over these territories. And recently, the Japanese even released handkerchiefs with a geographical map of the island of Hokkaido. On them, the Kuril Islands are painted in the color of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Russian-Japanese cemetery on Iturup island. Photo: TASS

“When our exhibition of economic achievements was opened in Tokyo and a map of our country was hung there, the Japanese demanded that the map be removed, since the Kuril Islands were on the map as part of Russia. Only in this case was the exhibition allowed if the map was removed. And our embassy couldn’t find anything better than to remove the card. In the 40s and 50s, Japanese maps reflected the real state of affairs, reflected the results of World War II, and on them the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin were painted in the color of Soviet territory. Recoloring of maps began in the second half of the 60s. Of course, this is being done with the knowledge of the Japanese government and at the direction of the Japanese authorities. Painting these areas the color of Japanese territory is nothing less than cartographic aggression. But, unfortunately, our diplomacy takes this calmly,” said Igor Latyshev, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, former correspondent for the Pravda newspaper in Japan.

For the past two decades, every year on August 9, the day the Soviet-Japanese War began, Japanese activists hold protest demonstrations. On the huge shields there is a Soviet-Russian soldier with a bestial grin and a signature in Japanese: “The islands were taken away from us.”

And February 7 was declared by the Japanese government as the “Day of Return of the Northern Territories” - meaning the Kuril Islands. On this day, numerous right-wing demonstrations take place in Tokyo. At the Russian embassy in Tokyo, the “right-wingers” are chanting into a megaphone in bad Russian: “Down with you, Russian! Give it back, Russian! Die, Russian!

On the streets of Tokyo there are propaganda slogans: “The day of return of the Northern Territories is a day of peace”, “The real proof of friendship is the return of the territories.” On the island of Hokkaido, closer to the islands, the slogans become more specific and sharp: “Return the Northern Territories,” “We will not give up the Northern Territories,” “Return the occupied islands.”

The Japanese built an observation deck at Cape Nossapu on the island of Hokkaido. From here, in good weather, you can see not only the Lesser Kuril Ridge, but also Kunashir Island. More than 400 thousand Japanese come here to see the Kuril Islands every year. “When a person actually stands in this place and sees how close these islands are, sees their size, then, of course, the Japanese throughout the country are imbued with the mood for these islands to return to us as soon as possible, and the problem will be solved,” says Sugawara Hidetoshi, director Museum "Northern Territories".

Kunashir Island. Photo: TASS

In the manual developed by Japanese politicians and sociologists, everything about the future fate of the Kuril Islands is spelled out with Japanese care. For example, after the transfer of the Kuril Islands to Japan, all public utilities must be transferred free of charge to the Japanese side. Russian citizens will be able to obtain Japanese citizenship in five years, but only after special verification. Television and radio broadcasting will be stopped. Russian higher education diplomas are invalid...

Either some of them found themselves either under the rule of Russia or under the rule of Japan. In - gg. Japan also included the southern part of Sakhalin Island (Karafuto), so in the period 1905-1945. part of the Russian-Japanese, and then the Soviet-Japanese border was land. The modern border was established after World War II.

Description

The Russian-Japanese border de facto, and also, from the Russian point of view, de jure, passes through the La Perouse, Kunashirsky, Izmena and Sovetsky straits, separating Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands from the Japanese island of Hokkaido. From the Japanese perspective, the de jure border runs through the La Perouse and Frieze straits. The latter separates the Kuril islands Iturup and Urup.

Territorial disputes

Japan claims the southern group of the Kuril Islands - Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Habomai, which came under the control of the USSR (and Russia as successor) as a spoil of war in 1945. This border existed in 1855 - 1875. It was established on February 7, 1855 and was the first Russian-Japanese treaty on trade and borders (Shimoda Treaty). Abolished on May 7 by the St. Petersburg Treaty signed with Japan, according to which all the Kuril Islands were transferred to the latter. Since this year, Japan has been celebrating Northern Territories Day on the occasion of the annexation of the Southern Kuril Islands.

Checkpoints

There are no checkpoints on the Russian-Japanese border, since the border is sea along its entire length. Due to the watery nature of the border, violations of it by sea fishing vessels are often recorded here. Due to the much larger population of Hokkaido (over 5.5 million people), it is usually Japanese fishermen who violate the border, who can cause multi-million dollar damage by illegal crab fishing. At the same time, the law makes it possible for Japanese fishermen to cross the border legally and extract marine resources in certain areas of the Habomai archipelago. Since this year, Japanese fishermen have been fishing for seaweed near Signalny Island under intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements between Russia and Japan.

To control the maritime border with Japan and prevent the theft of natural resources of the Russian Federation on the island. Tanfilyev operates a border post with the appropriate infrastructure. There is no permanent civilian population on the island, but border guards and their families live here year-round, and up to several dozen seasonal workers regularly arrive on a rotating basis.

Notes

1. Neighboring countries Archived October 11, 2016. // Rosgranitsa
2. General information about the country/Geographical location. Borders Archived copy dated March 26, 2016 on the Wayback Machine // New Russian Encyclopedia (Russia. Electronic encyclopedic dictionary)
3. Rosgranitsa - Japan (undefined) (unavailable link). Retrieved February 6, 2015. Archived December 3, 2014.
4. Tvarkovsky L. S. Russian naval forces protecting the natural resources of the seas of the Russian Far East: history and modernity (undefined) . // Local history bulletin.- Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: Sakhalin Center for Documentation of Contemporary History, 1996.- Issue. 3. - “...starting in 1963, the Japanese began fishing for seaweed in the area of ​​Signalny Island (Small Kuril Ridge). The right to this fishery was stipulated by a special intergovernmental agreement, as well as an agreement concluded between the USSR Ministry of Fisheries and the All-Japan Fisheries Association.” Retrieved April 16, 2016.
5. Error in footnotes

2. State border between Russia and the USA

3 . State border between Russia and Japan

Rules for establishing maritime boundaries

• Maritime border is installed

• 1) an internal act of the state in compliance with international standards

• 2) by agreement with the border/opposite

• by the state.

• The width of territorial waters ranges from 3 to 12 nautical miles.

• The exceptions are:

• * neutral international rivers (Danube),

• * neutral international straits (Gibraltar, English Channel,

• Magellanic),

• * international channels (Suez, Panama - neutral,

• as well as Kiel and Corinth),

• * historical bays are the territory of a specific state

• (Hudson Bay is a Canadian territory,

• Varangerfjord - Norway).

Codification of international law

• 1958 - First (Geneva) Conference

• UN Law of the Sea.

• The result of the conference,

• There were four international conventions adopted:

• on the territorial sea and adjacent zone;

• about the open sea;

• about the continental shelf;

• on fisheries and the protection of living resources of the high seas

• UN Convention 1982 was developed at the 3rd UN Conference on the Law of the Sea. The objective was "to adopt a convention on all matters relating to the law of the sea." 6 Dec. it was signed by representatives of 119 states.

• The Convention incorporates a number of international customs and provisions of the 1958 Geneva Conventions.

• The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea entered into force November 16, 1994 g., 12 months after it was ratified by 60 states.

• November 16, 2004 the ten-year period established by the provisions of Art. 312 of the Convention, after which

• any participating State will be able, by sending

• written message addressed to the General

• UN Secretary to propose specific amendments to it.

• Photo: http://news.ntv.ru/65291/

Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation Approved on July 27, 2001 by the President of the Russian Federation

• The principles of the national maritime policy are:

• compliance with generally accepted norms of international law and

• international treaties...;

• priority of political-diplomatic, economic, information and

• other non-military means in resolving contradictions ... and eliminating threats to the national security of the Russian Federation from ocean and sea directions;

• possession of the necessary naval potential and its effective use, if necessary, for forceful support of the state’s maritime activities;

• an integral approach to maritime activities in general and its differentiation in individual areas, taking into account changes in their priority depending on the geopolitical situation;

• maintaining the components of the maritime potential of the Russian Federation at levels consistent with the national interests of Russia...;

• interaction and coordination of efforts in matters of the formation and implementation of the national maritime policy of the authorities of the Russian Federation...;

• state control over ships sailing under the State Flag of the Russian Federation, state port control, control over the state and use of natural resources of internal sea waters, the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of the Russian Federation;

Russia's participation in international organizations on the law of the sea, the seabed, and the boundaries of the continental shelf

• Russia, as one of the leading maritime powers, is regularly elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations,

• is an active participant in the Meeting of the Parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,

• Member of the International Seabed Authority (52 countries signed up),

• member of many other universal and regional “maritime” intergovernmental forums, incl. created in accordance with the Convention:

• International Seabed Authority

• International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

• Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

• UN Informal Consultative Process

• on maritime law

Agreement concerning the cession of Russian Property in North America between His Majesty the Emperor of All Russia and the United States of America June 20, 1867

• Article I Western border, within which lies

• transferred territory, passes

• through Bering Strait 65° 30´ N

• with a meridian that passes

• halfway between the islands Krusenstern, or Ignalook,

• and islands Ratmanova, or Noonarbook,

• and continues north, without limitation, into the Arctic Ocean.

• Same western border starting at the same beginning

• follows almost southwest through the Bering Straits and the Bering Sea,

• to pass on the halfway between

• northwestern point of the island st. Lawrence

• and southeastern point Chukotsky Cape, To meridian 172 west longitude;

• From here, from the intersection of this meridian, in a south-west direction,

• passes halfway between the island Attu(Attou)

• and the island Copper(Copper) Commander archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean,

• To meridian 193° W.D.,

• to include in the transferred territory all the Aleutian Islands east of this meridian" ...

• Representatives of the USA and the All-Russian Emperor: William H. Seward and Edward Stoskl

• from the intersection point of the parallel 65° 30´ N with the meridian that passes between the islands Krusenstern And Ratmanova

• through Bering Strait on North

• between the northwestern point of the island st. Lawrence

• and southeastern point Chukotsky Cape, to the meridian 172º z.d.

• from the intersection of this meridian passes between the islands Attu And Copper to the meridian 193°W

• Bering Sea

• Photo: http://www.booksite.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/111/790.htm

Formation of the Russian-American border

• Russia and the United States of America have the longest maritime borders - in the North Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, the Bering and Chukchi Seas.

• 1867 g. - the border line was first designated in the Agreement regarding the cession of Russian property in North America.

• Starting point: meridian passing through 65 parallel between the islands Krusenstern And Ratmanova continuing north without limit.

• In the southwest the border runs between the islands Copper And Attu.

• 1926 On April 15, by a resolution of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the middle of the strait “separating the Ratmanov and Kruzenshtern islands of the Diomede island group in the Bering Strait” was determined meridian at 168º 49 min. 30 sec. western longitude.

• 1990 June 1 – an agreement on the maritime delimitation line between the United States and Russia was signed. The United States ratified this Agreement, Russia did not.

• Currently, the agreement with the United States, although not ratified by the Russian parliament, is respected by both parties.

Shevardnadze-Becker Agreement Washington, June 1, 1990

• (the agreement was concluded by the foreign ministers

• E. Shevardnadze and J. Becker in the presence of the presidents of the USSR and the USA)

• * Delimitation

• * The passage of the contractual state has been established

• borders between the territories of the USSR and the USA

• *Based on the line outlined in the 1867 Convention

• * The agreement demarcated the economic zone and continental shelf of the USSR and the USA in the waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi and Bering seas, as well as the Pacific Ocean

• * The starting point of the demarcation line has coordinates 65º 30" north latitude and 168 º 58" 37"" west longitude. At this point the maritime state border, the boundaries of economic zones and the continental shelf between the USSR and the USA converge.

Opinion: “The 1990 agreement between the USSR and the USA on the maritime delimitation line infringes on Russia’s fishing and state interests.”

• In the Resolution of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

“On the consequences of the application of the Agreement between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America on the maritime delimitation line of 1990 for the national interests of the Russian Federation” from June 14 2002 year No. 2880-III The State Duma states that as a result of the delimitation of maritime spaces in accordance with the Agreement in the Bering Sea, the United States received:

• - part of the economic zone of the USSR with an area of ​​23.7 thousand square meters. km., actually transferred by the Soviet Union to the United States of America back in 1977;

• - part of the exclusive economic zone of the USSR with an area of ​​7.7 thousand square meters. km;

• - a section of the continental shelf with an area of ​​46.3 thousand square meters. km in the open central Bering Sea, beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines.

• + the section of the continental shelf that went to the Russian Federation in this part of the Bering Sea amounted to only 4.6 thousand square meters. km.

• In a separate section, the US economic zone exceeded the distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines, which is contrary to Article 57 of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

• According to experts, the total losses of the Russian fishing industry associated with the application of the Agreement amounted to about 2.8 million tons of fish worth over 1.4 billion US dollars.

• Photo: http://transbez.com/news/200602162040.html

Formation of the situation around marine areas in the Bering Sea

• 1975 g. – The USSR declares a 200-mile zone near its shores an economic zone

• 1977 g. - The United States proposed the USSR as a basis for resolving issues of delimiting 200-mile zones in those areas where they overlapped, take the line of the Convention of 1867 g., ratified by Russia and the USA. After lengthy consideration by various departments, a political decision was made: to agree with this decision in principle.

• In the economic zone, the United States allocated to Soviet fishermen fishing quota in a volume of 150 thousand tons.

• IN 1981 - one of the US sanctions against the USSR was the abolition of quotas. A few years later, a verbal agreement was reached on joint fishing in these areas (until 1990).

• 1990 June 1st temporarily came into force" Shevardnadze-Becker Agreement».

• 2000 d. signing agreements on cooperation and interaction between

• coast guard US 17th District and Northeast Regional

• management of the Federal Border Guard Service of Russia.

• 2001, July 27 comes into force Naval doctrine RF.

• 2002 g. - the American side stated that

• she is satisfied with the parameters of the 1990 Agreement.

• Photo: http://news.rin.ru/news/31475/

Problems of the Russian-American border: 1) No man's economic zones in maritime areas. In a number of maritime areas, the economic zones of states overlap each other (the distance between the coasts is less than 400 miles) 2) Continental shelf outside the economic zone. In the central part of the Bering Sea, outside the economic zones, there remains a significant area of ​​open sea waters, surrounded on all sides by these zones (distance less than 700 miles i.e. 350+350)

The delimitation of the maritime borders of Russia and the United States is one of the most intractable border situations

• Every year, the busiest part of the border in terms of fishing, the Bering Sea, experiences significant tension caused by the detention of Russian fishing vessels by the US Coast Guard, which are accused of violating the treaty maritime boundary line.

• Some of the detained ships were escorted to US Pacific ports and only released after paying significant fines.

• Photo: Bering Sea. http://www.RussianChicago.com/common/arc/story.php?id_cat=2810&id...

Northeast Asia

http://www.kurilstour.ru/islands.shtml?map

Geographical characteristics of the Kuril Islands

• 1) Archipelago (Japanese: Chishima-retto) - a chain of volcanic islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Hokkaido Island

• 2) Big and Small ridge of islands

• 3) Separate the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean

• 4) Length approx 1200 km., area approx. 15,6 thousand sq. km.

• 5) The 200-mile zone of the islands is connected to a similar zone in the Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk.

• 6) All straits leading to the Pacific Ocean pass through the Kuril Islands.

• 7) B 1946 The cities of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai islands were included in the RSFSR by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR

• 8) Total area of ​​all disputed islands 5 thousand sq. km.

• 9) Fish processing plays a major role in the economy of the islands

• 10) Mineral resources: gold, silver, zinc, copper, lead, iron, vanadium, agates, sulfur. Ore, titanium. Bioresources: salmon, crabs, seaweed (the world's richest deposit of red algae, accounting for 89% of the reserves of the entire Far East region).

• Photo: Kuril Islands http://www.communist.ru/archive.php?24

Formation of the Russian-Japanese state border

• 1855 g., 26 Jan. (February 7) - Treatise on trade and borders (Iturup - Urup).

• 1875 g., April 25 (May 7) – treatise. according to which the islands from Urup to Shumshu were peacefully ceded to Japan in exchange for the cession of rights to Sakhalin Island.

• 1905 g., 23 Aug. (Sept. 5) – Portsmouth Peace. Russia ceded to Japan a part of Sakhalin Island south of the fiftieth parallel of northern latitude.

• 1925 g., January 20 - Convention on the basic principles of relations between the USSR and Japan, which proclaimed the establishment of diplomatic relations between them. The USSR agreed that the Portsmouth Treaty of 1905 remained in force.

• 1945 g., July 26 - Potsdam Declaration USA, UK and China, to which August 8. 1945 USSR joined. It is stated that Japanese sovereignty will be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and smaller islands specified by the allies. Japan Aug 15 1945 adopted the Potsdam Declaration and capitulated.

• 1951 g., 8 Sep. - San Francisco Peace Treaty. Japan renounced all claims to the Kuril Islands and the southern part of the island. Sakhalin. The USSR did not sign this agreement.

• 1956 g., 19 Oct. - The joint declaration of the USSR and Japan ended the state of war and restored diplomatic and consular relations between the two countries. The USSR agreed to the transfer of Habomai Island and Shikotan Island to Japan, however, that the actual transfer of these islands would take place after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty.

1991 g., April 18 - V Joint Soviet-Japanese statement following the results of the high-level negotiations in Tokyo, it was said that the parties held negotiations, including on the issue of territorial demarcation, taking into account the positions of the parties on the ownership of the Habomai islands, Shikotan island, Kunashir island and Iturup island. The statement also emphasizes the importance of accelerating work on concluding a peace treaty.

South Kuril Islands, claimed by Japan: 2 islands of the Great Kuril Chain (Iturup, Kunashir) 6 islands of the Lesser Kuril Chain (5 islands of the Habomai group and Shikotan Island) Habomai Islands: 1) Shikotan 2) Green 3) Tanfilyeva 4) Polonsky 5) Yuri 6) Anuchin row of surface rocks

Between the Southern Kuril Islands and Japan since April 1992 visa-free exchange has been in effect for a year. Tokyo regularly provides logistical assistance and humanitarian assistance to the islands' residents. Thus, the Japanese helped restore the destroyed infrastructure after the severe earthquake of 1994. Currently, in Yuzhno-Kurilsk (on Kunashir), they have built the only pier and are building a power plant. Photo: http://www.info-online.ru/news36611.html

• Southern Kuriles

• WITH 2005 402 million 205 thousand rubles were allocated for the implementation of the federal target program “Socio-economic development of the Kuril Islands and the Sakhalin Region”.

• Kunashir- the southernmost island of the ridge.

• Area approximately 1550 sq. km. Height up to 1819 m.

• The island has active volcanoes and hot springs,

• valid geothermal power plant(GeoTES)

• power 500 kW.

• The village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk is located on the island.

• (about 5,500 people) and the Kurilsky Nature Reserve.

• LLC "South Kuril Combine" operates.

• For 2005: funds were allocated for the construction of the Mendeleev Energy Complex

• Iturup- the largest island by area (6725 km2). Volcanic massif (height up to 1634 m): Kudryavy volcano and others. The city of Kurilsk (about 2700 people according to 1989 data), Gorny. deep water bay killer whale. Kuril fish factory. In 2005

• funds were allocated for the construction of the Ocean

• energy complex, port point.

• The fish factory is being reconstructed.

• Shikotan- the largest island

• in the Lesser Kuril Ridge (182 km2).

• Settlements - Malokurilskoye and Krabozavodskoye.

• Fishing and the extraction of marine animals are developed.

• The leading enterprise is CJSC "Ostrovnoy Fish Processing Plant" -

• This is the largest enterprise in the industry in the Far East.

• JSC "Krabozavodsky" is also located. Problems: import of coal.

• Habomai Islands: Malokurilskoye, Krabozavodskoye.

• Since 2005, a school with 200 places has been built on Krabozavoskiy.

Territorial problem: positions of the parties

Japan: The Japanese-Soviet joint declaration of 1956 is interpreted one-sidedly. It is proposed to conclude a peace treaty by solving the territorial problem by transferring only two islands - Habomai and Shikotan. Not a single official word was said about the Tokyo Declaration, which set out the agreements between Japan and the renewed Russia. And not only about the Tokyo Declaration. The islands were illegally occupied by the Soviet Army immediately after the end of the Second World War.

• Russia: Moscow recognizes the 1956 Declaration and, thus, the two islands of the southern Kuril chain can be transferred to Japan. To normalize relations with Japan, it is necessary to sign a peace treaty, within the framework of which the territorial problem must also be resolved.