Putin Visits Islands Seized From Japan in World War II, Angering Tokyo

Putin Visits Islands Seized From Japan in World War II, Angering Tokyo - The New York Times

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Putin Visits Islands Seized From Japan in World War II, Angering Tokyo

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan has been a public critic of Mr. Putin, who has denounced her country’s sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine war.

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!A person in a blue shirt gestures with open hands while speaking to two others. Two large fish are displayed on a white table in front of them.

*A Russian state media photo released on Thursday showed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia visiting a contested island.

Credit...

Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images*

By

Javier C. Hernández and Paul Sonne

Javier C. Hernández reported from Tokyo, and Paul Sonne from Berlin.

Aug. 13, 2026

Updated 9:12 a.m. ET

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President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday visited islands seized from Japan at the end of World War II for the first time, prompting an angry rebuke from Tokyo.

Mr. Putin used the visit to reassert Russia’s territorial claims and to protest Japan’s ongoing sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. A day before the visit, he said that Russia’s claim to the islands was a “reality” that had been “enshrined in international documents.”

“We are not threatening Japan. We have absolutely no claims against it,” Mr. Putin said. “On the contrary, Japan has territorial claims against our country.”

The visit, which came as Russia held large-scale military exercises in the neighboring seas, was the latest flare-up in tensions between the two countries. Russia has been putting pressure on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a defense hawk and critic of Moscow who was elected last year. She has pushed forward with Japan’s largest postwar defense buildup and sought closer ties with the United States.

Ms. Takaichi criticized the visit on Thursday, saying Japan had repeatedly warned Russian leaders to stay away from the islands, which are known in Russia as the southern Kuril Islands and in Japan as the Northern Territories. She described them as “an inherent part of Japan’s territory, both historically and under international law.”

She told reporters that Mr. Putin’s visit “hurts the feelings of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable.” Japan’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that it had summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest the visit.

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