Maritime borders with Japan on the map. The problem of territorial demarcation between Japan and Russia. “Why are the islands ours?” Russia's point of view

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. 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 Kurile Islands. 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), Japanese fishermen usually violate the border, who can cause multi-million dollar damage by illegally catching crab. 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 theft natural resources 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 Documentation Center modern 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

RUSSIA-JAPAN: KURIL ISLANDS

Preliminary information:

KURILE ISLANDS- a chain of volcanic islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) and the island. Hokkaido (Japan); separates the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from Pacific Ocean. They are part of the Sakhalin region (Russian Federation). Length about 1200 km. The area is about 15.6 thousand km2. They consist of two parallel ridges of islands - the Greater Kuril and the Lesser Kuril (Shikotan, Habomai, etc.).

The Great Kuril Ridge is divided into 3 groups: southern (Kunashir, Iturup, Urup, etc.), middle (Simushir, Ketoi, Ushishir, etc.) and northern (Lovushki, Shiashkotan, Onekotan, Paramushir, etc.). Most of the islands are mountainous (height 2339 m). About 40 active volcanoes; hot mineral springs, high seismicity. On the southern islands there are forests; the northern ones are covered with tundra vegetation. Fishing for fish (chum salmon, etc.) and sea animals (seal, sea lion, etc.).

URUP, island in the Kuril Islands group, territory Russian Federation. OK. 1.4 thousand km2. Consists of 25 volcanoes connected by bases. Height up to 1426 m. 2 active volcanoes (Trident and Berga).

ITURUP, the largest island in area (6725 km2) in the group of Kuril Islands (Russian Federation, Sakhalin region). Volcanic massif (height up to 1634 m). Bamboo thickets, spruce-fir forests, dwarf trees. On Iturup - Kurilsk.

KUNASHIR, an island in the Kuril Islands group. OK. 1550 km2. Height up to 1819 m. Active volcanoes(Tyatya, etc.) and hot springs. Pos. Yuzhno-Kurilsk. Kurilsky Nature Reserve.

SHIKOTAN, most big Island in the Lesser Kuril Ridge. 182 km2. Height up to 412 m. Settlements- Malokurilskoye and Krabozavodskoye. Fishing. Harvesting sea animals.


The territory of the disputed islands of the Kuril archipelago.

Borders between Russia and Japan in the Kuril Islands region.

Russian navigators Captain Shpanberg and Lieutenant Walton in 1739 were the first Europeans to discover the route to the eastern shores of Japan, visited the Japanese islands of Hondo (Honshu) and Matsmae (Hokkaido), and described Kuril ridge and mapped all the Kuril Islands and east coast Sakhalin. The expedition found that under the rule of the Japanese Khan [ Emperor?] there is only one island, Hokkaido, the other islands are not under its control. Since the 60s, interest in the Kuril Islands has noticeably increased, Russian fishing vessels are increasingly landing on their shores, and soon the local population (Ainu) on the islands of Urup and Iturup were brought into Russian citizenship. Shebalin was ordered by the office of the port of Okhotsk to “convert the residents of southern islands and start trading with them." Having brought the Ainu under Russian citizenship, the Russians founded winter quarters and camps on the islands, taught the Ainu to use firearms, raise livestock and grow some vegetables. Many of the Ainu converted to Orthodoxy and learned to read and write. By order of Catherine II in 1779 all taxes not established by decrees from St. Petersburg were cancelled. Thus, the fact of the discovery and development of the Kuril Islands by the Russians is undeniable.

Over time, the fisheries in the Kuril Islands were depleted, becoming less and less profitable than off the coast of America, and therefore, by the end of the 18th century, the interest of Russian merchants in the Kuril Islands weakened. In Japan, by the end of the same century, interest in the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin was just awakening, because before that the Kuril Islands were practically unknown to the Japanese. The island of Hokkaido - according to the testimony of Japanese scientists themselves - was considered a foreign territory and only a small part of it was populated and developed. At the end of the 70s, Russian merchants reached Hokkaido and tried to establish trade with local residents. Russia was interested in purchasing food in Japan for Russian fishing expeditions and settlements in Alaska and the Pacific Islands, but it was never possible to establish trade, since it was prohibited by the law on the isolation of Japan in 1639, which read: “For the future, while the sun shines peace, no one has the right to land on the shores of Japan, even if he were an envoy, and this law can never be repealed by anyone under pain of death." And in 1788, Catherine II sent a strict order to Russian industrialists in the Kuril Islands so that they “do not touch the islands under the jurisdiction of other powers,” and a year before she issued a decree on equipment round the world expedition For accurate description and mapping the islands from Masmaya to Kamchatka Lopatka, so that “all of them are formally included in the possession of the Russian state.” It was ordered not to allow foreign industrialists to “trade and manufacture in places belonging to Russia and to deal peacefully with local residents.” But the expedition did not take place due to the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war [ meaning the war of the years].

Taking advantage of the weakening of Russian positions in the southern part of the Kuril Islands, Japanese fish farmers first appeared in Kunashir in 1799, and the next year in Iturup, where they destroyed Russian crosses and illegally erected a pillar with a designation indicating that the islands belonged to Japan. Japanese fishermen often began to arrive on the shores South Sakhalin, carried out fishing, robbed the Ainu, which was the cause of frequent skirmishes between them. In 1805, Russian sailors from the frigate "Juno" and the tender "Avos" placed a pole with the Russian flag on the shore of Aniva Bay, and the Japanese anchorage on Iturup was devastated. The Russians were warmly received by the Ainu.

In 1854, in order to establish trade and diplomatic relations with Japan, the government of Nicholas I sent Vice Admiral E. Putyatin. His mission also included the delimitation of Russian and Japanese possessions. Russia demanded recognition of its rights to the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which had long belonged to it. Knowing full well what a difficult situation Russia found itself in, while simultaneously waging war with three powers in the Crimea, Japan put forward unfounded claims to southern part Sakhalin. At the beginning of 1855, in the city of Shimoda, Putyatin signed the first Russian-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship, in accordance with which Sakhalin was declared undivided between Russia and Japan, the border was established between the islands of Iturup and Urup, and the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate were opened for Russian ships and Nagasaki.

The Shimoda Treaty of 1855 in Article 2 defines:
“From now on, the border between the Japanese state and Russia will be established between the island of Iturup and the island of Urup. The entire island of Iturup belongs to Japan, the entire island of Urup and the Kuril Islands to the north of it belong to Russia. As for the island of Karafuto (Sakhalin), it is still not divided by the border between Japan and Russia.”


Nowadays, the Japanese side claims that this treaty comprehensively took into account the activities of Japan and Russia in the area of ​​Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands up to the time of its conclusion and was concluded as a result of negotiations between Japan and Russia in a peaceful environment. The plenipotentiary representative of the Russian side at the negotiations, Admiral Putyatin, when signing the treaty, stated: “In order to prevent future disputes, as a result of careful study, it was confirmed that Iturup Island is Japanese territory.” Documents recently published in Russia show that Nicholas I considered the island of Urup to be the southern limit of Russian territory.

The Japanese side considers it erroneous to assert that Japan imposed this treaty on Russia, which was in a difficult situation during the Crimean War. It completely contradicts the facts. At that time, Russia was one of the great European powers, while Japan was a small and weak country that the United States, England and Russia were forcing to abandon the country's 300-year-old policy of self-isolation.

Japan also considers it erroneous that Russia allegedly has “historical rights” to the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai ridge, confirmed by this treaty as Japanese possession, due to their discovery and expeditions. As stated above, both Nicholas I and Admiral (+), based on the objective situation at that time, concluded a treaty, realizing that the southern limit of Russia is the island of Urup, and Iturup and south of it is the territory of Japan. Beginning in 1855, for more than 90 years, neither Tsarist Russia nor the Soviet Union ever insisted on these so-called “historical rights.”
There was no need for Japan to discover these islands, located at the shortest distance from it and visible from Hokkaido with the naked eye. A map of the Shoho era, published in Japan in 1644, records the names of the islands Kunashir and Iturup. Japan was the earliest ruler of these islands. Actually, Japan justifies its claims to the so-called “Northern Territories” precisely by the content of the Shimoda Treaty of 1855 and by the fact that until 1946 the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai ridge were always the territories of Japan and never became the territories of Russia.

The government of Alexander II made the Middle East and Central Asia the main direction of its policy and, fearing to leave its relations with Japan uncertain in case of a new aggravation of relations with England, signed the so-called St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875, according to which all the Kuril Islands in exchange for recognition of Sakhalin Russian territory was transferred to Japan. Alexander II, who had previously sold Alaska in 1867 for a symbolic sum at that time - 11 million rubles, and this time made a big mistake by underestimating the strategic importance of the Kuril Islands, which were later used by Japan for aggression against Russia. The Tsar naively believed that Japan would become a peace-loving and calm neighbor of Russia, and when the Japanese, justifying their claims, refer to the 1875 treaty, for some reason they forget (as G. Kunadze “forgot” today) about its first article: “.. "Eternal peace and friendship will continue to be established between the Russian and Japanese Empires."
Then there was 1904, when Japan treacherously attacked Russia... At the conclusion of the peace treaty in Portsmouth in 1905, the Japanese side demanded Sakhalin Island from Russia as an indemnity. The Russian side stated then that this was contrary to the 1875 treaty. What did the Japanese respond to this?
- War crosses out all agreements, you were defeated and let’s proceed from the current situation.
Only thanks to skillful diplomatic maneuvers did Russia manage to retain the northern part of Sakhalin for itself, and southern Sakhalin went to Japan.

At the Yalta Conference of the Heads of Power, countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition, held in February 1945, it was decided after the end of the Second World War that South Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands should be transferred to the Soviet Union, and this was a condition for the USSR to enter the war with Japan - three months after end of the war in Europe.

On September 8, 1951, in San Francisco, 49 countries signed a peace treaty with Japan. The draft agreement was prepared during the " cold war"without the participation of the USSR and in violation of the principles of the Potsdam Declaration. The Soviet side proposed to carry out demilitarization and ensure democratization of the country. Representatives of the USA and Great Britain told our delegation that they came here not to discuss, but to sign an agreement and therefore not to change a single line The USSR, and along with Poland and Czechoslovakia, refused to sign the treaty. And interestingly, Article 2 of this treaty states that Japan renounces all rights and title to the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. herself renounced territorial claims to our country, confirming this with her signature.

Currently, the Japanese side claims that the islands of 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 “Kuril Islands” in the San Francisco Peace Treaty, stated in an official document: “(They) do not include and there was no intention to include (in the Kuril Islands) the Habomai and Shikotan ridges, or Kunashir and Iturup, which previously have always been a part of Japan proper and should therefore be rightly recognized as being under Japanese sovereignty."

1956, Soviet-Japanese negotiations to normalize relations between the two countries. The Soviet side agrees to cede the two islands of Shikotan and Habomai to Japan and offers to sign a peace treaty. The Japanese side is inclined to accept the Soviet proposal, but in September 1956 the United States sent a note to Japan stating that if Japan renounces its claims to Kunashir and Iturup and is satisfied with only two islands, then in this case the United States will not give up the Ryukyu Islands , where the main island is Okinawa. American intervention played a role and... The Japanese refused to sign a peace treaty on our terms. The subsequent security treaty (1960) between the United States and Japan made the transfer of Shikotan and Habomai to Japan impossible. Our country, of course, could not give up the islands for American bases, nor could it bind itself to any obligations to Japan on the issue of the Kuril Islands.

At one time he gave a worthy answer regarding Japan’s territorial claims to us:
- The borders between the USSR and Japan should be considered as the result of the Second World War.

We could put an end to this, but we would like to remind you that just 6 years ago, at a meeting with a delegation, the SPJ also resolutely opposed the revision of borders, emphasizing that the borders between the USSR and Japan were “legal and legally justified.”

http://karty. *****/claim/kuril/kuril. html

The Russian-Japanese border changed very often, the Kuril Islands, or part 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.

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.

Checkpoints

There are no checkpoints on the Russian-Japanese border, since the border is sea along its entire length.

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An excerpt characterizing the Russian-Japanese border

The cell was empty and damp, without any lighting. And in the very corner of it, a man was sitting on the straw. Coming closer to him, I suddenly screamed - it was my old friend, Cardinal Morone... His proud face, this time, turned red with bruises, and it was clear that the cardinal was suffering.
– Oh, I’m very glad that you are alive!.. Hello, monsignor! Have you tried to call me?
He stood up slightly, wincing in pain, and said very seriously:
- Yes, Madonna. I've been calling you for a long time, but for some reason you didn't hear. Although they were very close.
“I helped a good girl say goodbye to our cruel world...” I answered sadly. – Why do you need me, Your Eminence? Can I help you?..
- This is not about me, Madonna. Tell me, your daughter's name is Anna, isn't it?
The walls of the room began to shake... Anna!!! Lord, not Anna!.. I grabbed some protruding corner so as not to fall.
– Speak, monsignor... You are right, my daughter’s name is Anna.
My world was collapsing without even knowing the reasons for what happened... It was enough that Caraffa mentioned my poor girl. There was no hope of expecting anything good from this.
– When the Pope was “studying” me in the same basement last night, the man told him that your daughter had left the monastery... And for some reason Caraffa was very pleased with this. That's why I decided to somehow break this news to you. After all, his joy, as I understand it, brings only misfortune to everyone? Am I right, Madonna?..
- No... You are right, Your Eminence. Did he say anything else? Even some little thing that could help me?
Hoping to get at least the slightest “addition,” I asked. But Morone just shook his head negatively...
- I'm sorry, Madonna. He only said that you were very mistaken, and that love has never brought good to anyone. If that tells you anything, Isidora.
I just nodded, trying to collect my thoughts, which were scattered in panic. And trying not to show Morona how shocked I was by the news he said, she said as calmly as possible:
“Would you allow me to treat you, monseigneur?” It seems to me that you could use my “witch” help again. And thank you for the message... Even the bad one. It’s always better to know the enemy’s plans in advance, even the worst, isn’t it?..

    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. Washed by the waters of Okhotsk and Japanese seas and the Pacific Ocean. Includes Sakhalin Island and... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

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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. “Northern territories” (for Russia - 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 time 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 in general, the beginning of the study of these territories, is attributed to XVII 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 since then Northern part The islands 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 indigenous people The Kuril Islands have been in vassal relations with the central authorities of Japan since 1615. One can argue for a long time about who was the first to know about the existence of the islands, but it is probably worth paying great attention not only to the dates, but also to the very methods of penetration into the islands and the purposes that they were chasing. 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 Russian pioneers main task It was not so much trade as the annexation of these lands to the Russian state and, in accordance with this, the 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 stated 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 part of 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 Kawan plan is that after the border is demarcated and the islands are legally assigned to Japan disputed territories remained 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 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 that northern islands There are few Russians who would like to remain Russians. If such exist, it is all the more important to accustom them to the fact 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 they belong or not. disputed islands"to the concept of "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 separated into 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 bring numerous historical information, 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. "Story Far East 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 08/04/01
  9. Internet sites: http://www.lenta.ru; http://www.vld.ru/ppx/kurily; http://www.strana.ru; http://subscribe.ru/archive

 

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