In a chain of islands between Kamchatka and Hokkaido, a convex arc stretching between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, on the border of Russia and Japan are the South Kuril Islands - the group of Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashir and Iturup. These territories are disputed by our neighbors, who even included them in the Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido. Since these territories are of great economic and strategic importance, the struggle for the South Kuril Islands continues for many years.
Geography
Shikotan Island is located at the same latitude as the subtropical city of Sochi, and the lower ones are located at the latitude of Anapa. However, a climatic paradise has never been and is not expected. The South Kuril Islands have always belonged to the Far North region, although they cannot complain about the same harsh Arctic climate. Here winters are much milder, warmer, summers are not hot. This temperature regime, when in February - the coldest month - the thermometer rarely shows below -5 degrees Celsius, even the high humidity of the marine location deprives the negative effect. The monsoon continental climate here changes significantly, since the close presence of the Pacific Ocean weakens the influence of the no less close Arctic. If in the north of the Kuril Islands in the summer +10 on average, then the South Kuril Islands constantly warm up to +18. Not Sochi, of course, but not Anadyr.
The islands asymmetric arc is located on the very edge of the Okhotsk plate, above the subduction zone, where the Pacific plate ends. For the most part, the South Kuril Islands are covered in mountains, on Atlasova Island the largest peak is more than two thousand meters. There are volcanoes, since all the Kuril Islands lie in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Seismic activity is very high here. Thirty-six active volcanoes out of sixty-eight located on the Kuril Islands require constant observation. Earthquakes here are almost constant, after which there is a danger of the world's largest tsunami. So, the islands of Shikotan, Simushir and Paramushir have repeatedly suffered greatly from this element. The tsunamis of 1952, 1994 and 2006 were especially large.
Resources, flora
In the coastal zone and on the territory of the islands themselves, reserves of oil, natural gas, mercury, a huge number of non-ferrous metal ores have been explored. For example, near Kudryavy Volcano there is the richest known rhenium deposit in the world. Also, the southern part of the Kuril Islands was famous for the extraction of native sulfur. Here, the total gold resources are 1867 tons, and silver is also quite a lot - 9284 tons, titanium is almost forty million tons, iron is two hundred seventy-three million tons. Now the development of all minerals is waiting for better times, they are too few in the region, except for such a place as South Sakhalin. The Kuril Islands in general can be considered as a resource reserve of the country for a rainy day. Only two straits from all of the Kuril Islands are navigable year-round because they do not freeze. These are the islands of the South Kuril ridge - Urup, Kunashir, Iturup, and between them - the straits of Catherine and Frieza.
In addition to minerals, there are many other wealth belonging to all of humanity. This is the flora and fauna of the Kuril Islands. It varies greatly from north to south, since their length is quite large. In the north of the Kuril Islands there is a rather sparse vegetation, and in the south - coniferous forests of the amazing Sakhalin fir, Kuril larch, ayan spruce. In addition, broad-leaved species are very actively involved in covering island mountains and hills: curly oak, elm and maples, kalopanaks, hydrangeas, actinidia, magnolia vine, wild grapes and much, much more. There is even magnolia on Kushanir - the only wild-growing species of obovate magnolia. The most common plant adorning the South Kuril Islands (a landscape photo is attached) is the Kuril bamboo, whose impenetrable thickets hide from the eyes the slopes of the mountains and the edges of the forests. The grasses here are very tall and varied due to the mild and humid climate. A lot of berries that can be harvested on an industrial scale: lingonberries, crowberry, honeysuckle, blueberries and many others.
Animals, birds and fish
On the Kuril Islands (the northern ones are especially different in this respect), there are about the same number of brown bears as in Kamchatka. In the south it would be the same if not for the presence of Russian military bases. The islands are small, and the bear is close to rockets. But especially in the south there are a lot of foxes, because for them there is extremely much food. Small rodents - a huge number and many species, there are very rare ones. Four terrestrial mammals are present here: bats (brown ear-flaps, night-nights), hares, mice and rats, predators (foxes, bears, although they are few, mink and sable).
Of marine mammals, in the coastal island waters live sea otters, anthures (this is a type of island seal), sea lion and largha. A little further from the coast there are many cetaceans - dolphins, killer whales, whale whales, northern marshes and sperm whales. Clusters of eared Steller sea lions are observed along the entire Kuril coast, especially a lot of them on Iturup Island. In season, here you can see colonies of fur seals, lahtaks, seals, lionfish. decoration of marine fauna - sea otter. The precious fur-bearing animal was on the verge of extinction in the very recent past. Now the situation with sea otter is gradually being leveled. Fish in coastal waters is of great commercial importance, but there are also crabs, and mollusks, and squids, and trepangs, all crustaceans, sea kale. The population of the South Kuril Islands is mainly engaged in seafood production. In general, this place can be called without exaggeration one of the most productive territories in the oceans.
Colonial birds make up huge and picturesque bird markets. These are silly women, storms, cormorants, various gulls, car washes, guillemots, dead ends and many, many more. There are many redbooks, rare ones - albatrosses and petrels, tangerines, ospreys, golden eagles, eagles, peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons, Japanese cranes and snipe, eagle owls. They spend the winter in the Kuril Islands from ducks - mallards, teal, gogol, swans, rattle, eagles. Of course, there are many ordinary sparrows and cuckoos. Only on Iturup more than two hundred species of birds, one hundred of them are nesting. Eighty-four species of those listed in the Red Book live in the Kuril Reserve .
History: 17th Century
The issue of ownership of the South Kuril Islands did not appear yesterday. Before the arrival of the Japanese and Russians, Ainu lived here, who met new people with the word "kuru", which meant - a man. The Russians picked up the word with their inherent humor and called the natives "smokers." Hence the name of the entire archipelago. The Japanese were the first to draw maps of Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands. This happened in 1644. However, the problem of belonging to the South Kuril Islands arose already then, because a year earlier other maps of this region were drawn up by the Dutch, led by de Vries.
Lands have been described. But wrong. The frieze, which is named after the strait he discovered, attributed Iturup to the northeast of Hokkaido, and considered Urup as part of North America. A cross was erected on Urup, and all this land was declared the property of Holland. And the Russians came here in 1646 with the expedition of Ivan Moskvitin, and the Cossack Kolobov with a funny name Nekhoroshko Ivanovich later colorfully talked about the bearded Ainu who inhabit the islands. The following, slightly more extensive information came from the Kamchatka expedition of Vladimir Atlasov in 1697.
Eighteenth century
The history of the South Kuril Islands suggests that the Russians truly came to these lands in 1711. Kamchatka Cossacks rebelled, killed their bosses, and then thought better of it and decided to earn forgiveness or die. Therefore, they gathered an expedition to march on new uncharted lands. Danila Antsiferov and Ivan Kozyrevsky with a detachment in August 1711 landed on the northern islands of Paramushir and Shumshu. This expedition gave new knowledge about a whole ridge of islands, including Hokkaido. In this regard, in 1719, Peter the Great commissioned intelligence to Ivan Evreinov and Fedor Luzhin, through whose efforts a whole ridge of islands was declared Russian territories, including the island of Simushir. But the Ainu, of course, did not want to submit and go under the authority of the Russian Tsar. Only in 1778, Antipin and Shabalin managed to convince the Kuril tribes, and about two thousand people from Iturup, Kunashir and even from Hokkaido transferred to Russian citizenship. And in 1779, Catherine the Second issued a decree exempting all new eastern subjects from any taxes. And even then, conflicts began with the Japanese. They even banned the Russians from visiting Kunashir, Iturup and Hokkaido.
The Russians did not have real control here yet, but land lists were compiled. And Hokkaido, despite the Japanese city on its territory, was recorded as belonging to Russia. The Japanese, on the other hand, visited the Kuril Islands a lot and often, for which the local population justly hated them. The Ainu really did not have enough strength to rebel, but little by little they damaged the invaders: they would either sink the ship, or burn the outpost. In 1799, the Japanese had already organized the protection of Iturup and Kunashir. Although the Russian fishermen settled there relatively long time ago, approximately in the years 1785-87, the Japanese rudely asked them to leave the islands and destroyed all evidence of the Russians being on this land. The history of the South Kuril Islands already then began to acquire intrigue, but no one knew at that time how long it would be. For the first seventy years - until 1778 - Russians did not even meet with the Japanese in the Kuril Islands. The meeting took place in Hokkaido, which at that time was not yet conquered by Japan. The Japanese came to bargain with the Ainu, and here the Russians are already fishing. Naturally, the samurai became enraged, began to shake their weapons. Catherine sent a diplomatic mission to Japan, but then the conversation did not work out.
Nineteenth Century - A Century of Concessions
In 1805, the famous Nikolai Rezanov, who arrived in Nagasaki and failed, tried to continue negotiations on trade. Without suffering shame, he ordered the two ships to make a military expedition to the South Kuril Islands - to stake out the disputed territories. It turned out a good revenge for the destroyed Russian trading posts, the burned ships and the expelled (those who survived) trappers. A number of Japanese trading posts were destroyed, a village on Iturup was burnt. Russian-Japanese relations have come to the last pre-war face.
Only in 1855 was the first real demarcation of territories made. The northern islands are of Russia, the southern are of Japan. Plus joint Sakhalin. It was a pity to give the South Kuril Islands, rich in fishing, to Kunashir - especially. Iturup, Habomai and Shikotan also became Japanese. And in 1875, Russia received the right of undivided ownership of Sakhalin for the concession to all, without exception, the Kuril Islands of Japan.
Twentieth Century: Losses and Victories
In the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, Russia, despite the heroism of the worthy songs of cruisers and gunboats, who suffered defeat in an unequal battle, lost half of Sakhalin, the southern most valuable, along with the war. But in February 1945, when the victory over Nazi Germany was already predetermined, the USSR set the condition for Great Britain and the USA: it would help defeat the Japanese if they returned the territories belonging to Russia: Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the Kuril Islands. The allies promised, and in July 1945, the Soviet Union reaffirmed its commitment. Already in early September, the Kuril Islands were completely occupied by Soviet troops. And in February 1946, a decree was issued on the formation of the South Sakhalin region, which included the Kuril Islands in full force, which became part of the Khabarovsk Territory. So there was a return of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands of Russia.
Japan was forced to sign a peace treaty in 1951, which stated that it did not and would not claim rights, rights and claims in relation to the Kuril Islands. And in 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan were preparing to sign the Moscow Declaration, which confirmed the end of the war between these states. As a sign of goodwill, the USSR agreed to transfer the two Kuril Islands to Japan: Shikotan and Habomai, but the Japanese refused to accept them because they did not refuse to claim other southern islands - Iturup and Kunashir. Here, they again had an impact on the destabilization of the US situation, when they threatened, if this document was signed, not to return the island of Okinawa to Japan. That is why the South Kuril Islands are still disputed territories.
21st Century
Today, the problem of the South Kuril Islands is still relevant, despite the fact that a peaceful and cloudless life has long been established in the entire region. Russia is cooperating with Japan quite actively, but from time to time the conversation about Kuril’s affiliation rises. In 2003, a Russian-Japanese action plan was adopted regarding cooperation between countries. Presidents and prime ministers exchange visits, numerous societies of Russian-Japanese friendship at various levels have been created. However, the Japanese are constantly making the same claims, but are not accepted by the Russians.
In 2006, a whole delegation from a public organization popular in Japan, the League of Solidarity for the Return of Territories, visited Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. In 2012, however, Japan abolished the term "illegal occupation" in relation to Russia in matters relating to the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. And in the Kuril Islands, the development of resources continues, federal programs for the development of the region are being introduced, funding is increasing, a zone with tax breaks has been created there, the highest state officials visit the islands.
Affiliation Problem
How can one disagree with the documents signed in February Yalta in 1945, where the conference of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition decided the fate of the Kurils and Sakhalin, who would return to Russia immediately after the victory over Japan? Or did Japan not sign the Potsdam Declaration after signing its own Surrender Act? Signed after all. And there it clearly states that its sovereignty is limited to the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu. All! On September 2, 1945, this document was signed by Japan, and therefore, the conditions therein were confirmed.
And on September 8, 1951, a peace treaty was signed in San Francisco, where she refused in writing all claims to the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island with its adjacent islands. This means that its sovereignty in these territories, obtained after the Russo-Japanese war of 1905, is no longer valid. Although here the USA acted extremely treacherously, adding a very cunning reservation, because of which the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia did not sign this agreement. This country, as always, didn’t keep its word, because in the nature of its politicians it is always to say “yes”, but some of these answers will mean “no”. The United States left a loophole in the treaty for Japan, which, having slightly licked its wounds and released, as it turned out, paper cranes after the nuclear bombing, renewed its claims.
Arguments
They were as follows:
1. In 1855, the Kuril Islands were brought into the original possession of Japan by the Shimodsk Treaty .
2. The official position of Japan is that the Tishima Islands are not part of the Kuril Ridge, so Japan did not refuse them by signing an agreement in San Francisco.
3. The USSR did not sign the agreement in San Francisco.
So, the territorial claims of Japan are presented to the South Kuril Islands of Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashir and Iturup, whose total area is 5175 square kilometers, and these are the so-called northern territories belonging to Japan. In contrast, Russia says on the first point that the Russo-Japanese War annulled the Shimodsk treaty, on the second point - that Japan signed a declaration on the end of the war, which, in particular, says that the two islands - Khabomai and Shikotan - the USSR is ready give after signing the peace treaty. On the third point, Russia agrees: yes, the USSR did not sign this paper with a cunning amendment. But there is already no country as such, so there is nothing to talk about.
At one time, talk of territorial claims with the USSR was somehow unfortunate, but when it broke up, Japan gained courage. However, judging by everything, even now these efforts are in vain. Although in 2004 the Foreign Minister announced that he agreed to talk about territories with Japan, nevertheless, one thing is clear: no changes in the ownership of the Kuril Islands can occur.