Kuril Islands

Coordinates: 47°00′N 152°06′E / 47.0°N 152.1°E / 47.0; 152.1
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kuril Islands
Disputed islands
Native name:

Курильские острова (Russian)
千島列島 (Japanese)
A coastline along one of the Kuril Islands
Location of the Kuril Islands in the Western Pacific between Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia
Geography
LocationPacific Ocean
Coordinates47°00′N 152°06′E / 47.0°N 152.1°E / 47.0; 152.1
Total islands56
Area10,503.2 km2 (4,055.3 sq mi)
Length1,150 km (715 mi)
Highest elevation2,339 m (7674 ft)
Highest pointAlaid
Administration
Federal subjectSakhalin Oblast
DistrictsSevero-Kurilsky, Kurilsky, Yuzhno-Kurilsky
Claimed by
 Japan
(partial claim, southernmost islands)
PrefectureHokkaido
SubprefectureNemuro
Demographics
Population21,501 (2021)
Ethnic groupsmajority Russians
Composite map of the islands between Kamchatka Peninsula and Nemuro Peninsula, combining twelve U.S. Army Map Service maps compiled in the early 1950s

The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (/ˈk(j)ʊərɪl, kjʊˈriːl/; Russian: Кури́льские острова́, tr. Kuril'skiye ostrova, IPA: [kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva]; Japanese: Kuriru rettō (クリル列島, "Kuril Islands") or Chishima rettō (千島列島, "Thousand Islands")) are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East.[1] The islands stretch approximately 1,300 km (810 mi) northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the north Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many minor islets. The Kuril Islands consist of the Greater Kuril Chain and, at the southwest end, the parallel Lesser Kuril Chain.[2] They cover an area of around 10,503.2 square kilometres (4,055.3 sq mi),[3] with a population of roughly 20,000.[4]

The islands have been under Russian administration since their

Habomai islets, which has led to the ongoing Kuril Islands dispute. The disputed islands are known in Japan as the country's "Northern Territories".[5]

Etymology

The name Kuril originates from the

Hokkaidō. In Japanese, the Kuril Islands are known as the Chishima Islands (Kanji: 千島列島 Chishima Rettō pronounced [tɕiɕima ɾeꜜttoː], literally, 'Thousand Islands Archipelago'), also known as the Kuriru Islands (Katakana: クリル列島 Kuriru Rettō [kɯɾiɾɯ ɾeꜜttoː], literally, Kuril Archipelago). Once the Russians reached the islands in the 18th century they found a pseudo-etymology
from Russian kurit′, курить 'to smoke' due to the continual fumes and steam above the islands from volcanoes.

Geography and climate

Caldera of the island Ushishir

The Kuril Islands form part of the ring of

fumaroles. There is frequent seismic activity, including a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in 1963 and one of magnitude 8.3 recorded on November 15, 2006, which resulted in tsunami waves up to 1.5 metres (5 ft) reaching the California coast.[7]
Raikoke Island, near the centre of the archipelago, has an active volcano which erupted again in June 2019, with emissions reaching 13,000 m (42,651 ft).

The climate on the islands is generally severe, with long, cold, stormy winters and short and notoriously foggy summers. The average annual precipitation is 40 to 50 inches (1,020 to 1,270 mm), a large portion of which falls as snow. The

subpolar oceanic climate of southwest Alaska much more than the hypercontinental climate of Manchuria
and interior Siberia, as precipitation is heavy and permafrost completely absent. It is characterized by mild summers with only 1 to 3 months above 10 °C or 50 °F and cold, snowy, extremely windy winters below −3 °C or 26.6 °F, although usually above −10 °C or 14 °F.

The chain ranges from temperate to sub-Arctic climate types, and the vegetative cover consequently ranges from

Kunashir Island
at the southern end.

Landscape types and habitats on the islands include many kinds of beach and rocky shores, cliffs, wide rivers and fast gravelly streams, forests, grasslands,

peat bogs. The soils are generally productive, owing to the periodic influxes of volcanic ash and, in certain places, owing to significant enrichment by seabird guano. However, many of the steep, unconsolidated slopes are susceptible to landslides and newer volcanic activity can entirely denude
a landscape. Only the southernmost island has large areas covered by trees, while more northerly islands have no trees, or spotty tree cover.

Stratovolcano Mt. Ruruy; view from Yuzhno-Kurilsk

The northernmost,

wood-block prints, and other forms, in much the same way as the better-known Mount Fuji. Its summit is the highest point in Sakhalin Oblast
.

Ecology

Marine

Owing to their location along the Pacific shelf edge and the confluence of Okhotsk Sea gyre and the southward Oyashio Current, the Kuril islands are surrounded by waters that are among the most productive in the North Pacific, supporting a wide range and high abundance of marine life.

mollusks and countless other invertebrates and their associated predators. Many species of squid
provide a principal component of the diet of many of the smaller marine mammals and birds along the chain.

Fish: Further offshore, walleye pollock, Pacific cod, several species of flatfish are of the greatest commercial importance. During the 1980s, migratory Japanese sardine was one of the most abundant fish in the summer.

haul out
on the Kuril islands.

Sea otters: Sea otters were exploited very heavily for their pelts in the 19th century, as shown by 19th- and 20th-century whaling catch and sighting records.[8]

waterbirds, seabirds and waders.[9]

Terrestrial

The composition of terrestrial species on the Kuril islands is dominated by Asian mainland taxa via migration from Hokkaido and Sakhalin Islands and by Kamchatkan taxa from the North. While highly diverse, there is a relatively low level of endemism on a species level.

The

Kamchatka-Kurile meadows and sparse forests, a larger ecoregion that extends onto the Kamchatka Peninsula and Commander Islands
.

Because of the generally smaller size and isolation of the central islands, few major terrestrial mammals have colonized these, though

martens. Leopards once inhabited the islands. Some species of deer are found on the more southerly islands. It is claimed that a wild cat, the Kurilian Bobtail
, originates from the Kuril Islands. The bobtail is due to the mutation of a dominant gene. The cat has been domesticated and exported to nearby Russia and bred there, becoming a popular domestic cat.

Among terrestrial birds, ravens, peregrine falcons, some wrens and wagtails are common.

History

Kuril Ainu people next to their traditional dwelling.
A map of Kuril Islands from Gisuke Sasamori's 1893 book Chishima Tanken

Early history

Historical extent of the Ainu

The

Maarten Gerritsz Vries explored the islands in 1643. Russian popular legend has Fedot Alekseyevich Popov sailing into the area c. 1649.[11]
Russian Cossacks landed on Shumshu in 1711.[12]

American whaleships caught right whales off the islands between 1847 and 1892.[13] Three of the ships were wrecked on the islands: two on Urup in 1855[14][15] and one on Makanrushi in 1856.[16] In September 1892, north of Kunashir Island, a Russian schooner seized the bark Cape Horn Pigeon, of New Bedford and escorted it to Vladivostok, where it was detained for nearly two weeks.[17]

Japanese administration

Shōwa period
): a village hospital in the foreground, a factory in the left background with a fishery and a central radio tower (before 1945).

At the very end of the 19th century, the Japanese administration started the forced assimilation of the native Ainu people.[18][19] Also at this time the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship, effectively denying them the status of an indigenous group. Many Japanese moved onto former Ainu lands, including the Kuril islands. The Ainu were required to adopt Japanese names, and ordered to cease religious practices such as animal sacrifice and the custom of tattooing.[19] Although not compulsory, education was conducted in Japanese. Prior to Japanese colonization[20] (in 1868) about 100 Ainu reportedly lived on the Kuril islands.[21]

World War II

See also: Soviet–Japanese War
A monument commemorating the Soviet landing depicted on a Russian 5 rouble coin, 2020.
  • American planners had briefly contemplated an invasion of northern
    Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, on Amchitka and Shemya bases, but rejected the idea. The U.S. military maintained interest in these plans when they ordered the expansion of bases in the western Aleutians, and major construction began on Shemya. In 1945, plans for a possible invasion of Japan via the northern route were shelved[by whom?
    ].
  • Between 18 August and 31 August 1945 Soviet forces invaded the North and South Kurils.
  • The Soviets expelled the entire Japanese civilian population of roughly 17,000 by 1946.
  • Between 24 August and 4 September 1945 the Eleventh Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces sent two B-24s on reconnaissance missions over the North Kuril Islands with the intention of taking photos of the Soviet occupation in the area. Soviet fighters intercepted and forced them away.[citation needed]

In February 1945 the

South Sakhalin at the cost of over 5,000 Soviet and Japanese lives.[citation needed
]

Russian administration

See also: Kuril Islands dispute

The Kuril Islands are split into three administrative districts (raions), each a part of Sakhalin Oblast:

Japan maintains a claim to the three islands of

Habomai
rocks, together called the Northern Territories. In addition, the Japanese government claims that the Kuril Islands, other than the Northern Territories and South Karafuto, are undetermined areas under international law because the San Francisco Peace Treaty does not specify where they belong and the Soviet Union has not signed it.

On 8 February 2017 the Russian government gave names to five previously unnamed Kuril islands in Sakhalin Oblast: Derevyanko Island (after Kuzma Derevyanko, 43°22′8″N 146°1′3″E / 43.36889°N 146.01750°E / 43.36889; 146.01750), Gnechko Island (after Alexey Gnechko, 43°48′5″N 146°52′1″E / 43.80139°N 146.86694°E / 43.80139; 146.86694), Gromyko Island (after Andrei Gromyko, 46°14′1″N 150°36′1″E / 46.23361°N 150.60028°E / 46.23361; 150.60028), Farkhutdinov Island (after Igor Farkhutdinov, 43°48′5″N 146°53′2″E / 43.80139°N 146.88389°E / 43.80139; 146.88389) and Shchetinina Island (after Anna Shchetinina, 46°13′7″N 150°34′6″E / 46.21861°N 150.56833°E / 46.21861; 150.56833).[24]

Demographics

Main village in Shikotan
Russian Orthodox church, Kunashir

As of 2013, 19,400 people inhabited the Kuril Islands, of which 16,700 lived on the four disputed southern islands and 2,600 lived on

Iturup Island is over 60% ethnically Ukrainian.[5] Russian Orthodox Christianity is the main religion. Some of the villages are permanently occupied by Russian soldiers. Others are inhabited by civilians, who are mostly fishers, workers in fish factories, dockers, and social sphere workers (police, medics, teachers, etc.). Construction works on the islands have attracted migrant workers from the rest of Russia and other post-Soviet states. As of 2014
, there were only 8 inhabited islands out of a total of 56.

Economy

ores. There are hopes that oil exploration will provide an economic boost to the islands.[25]

In 2014, construction workers built a pier and a breakwater in Kitovy Bay, central Iturup, where barges are a major means of transport, sailing between the cove and ships anchored offshore. A new road has been carved through the woods near Kurilsk, the island's biggest village, going to the site of Yuzhno-Kurilsk Mendeleyevo Airport.[26]

Gidrostroy, the Kurils' biggest business group with interests in fishing, construction and real estate, built its second fish processing factory on Iturup island in 2006, introducing a state-of-the-art conveyor system.

To deal with a rise in the demand of electricity, the local government is also upgrading a state-run geothermal power plant at Mount Baransky, an active volcano, where steam and hot water can be found.[27]

In 2022, a special economic zone was established on the Kuril islands with special tax regimes, exemption from corporate income tax, VAT with reduced customs duties for 20 years.

Russian far east.[30]

Military

The main Russian force stationed on the islands is the 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division, which has its headquarters in Goryachiye Klyuchi on the Iturup Island. There are also Border Guard Service troops stationed on the islands. In February 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for substantial reinforcements of the Kuril Islands defences. Subsequently, in 2015, additional anti-aircraft missile systems Tor and Buk, coastal defence missile system Bastion, Kamov Ka-52 combat helicopters and one Varshavyanka project submarine came on defence of Kuril Islands.[citation needed] During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine it was reported that parts of the 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division were redeployed to Eastern Ukraine.[31]

List of main islands

While in Russian sources[citation needed] the islands are mentioned for the first time in 1646, the earliest detailed information about them was provided by the explorer Vladimir Atlasov in 1697. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Kuril Islands were explored by Danila Antsiferov, I. Kozyrevsky, Ivan Yevreinov, Fyodor Luzhin, Martin Spanberg, Adam Johann von Krusenstern, Vasily Golovnin, and Henry James Snow.

  • Yuzhno-Kurilsk, Kunashir
    Yuzhno-Kurilsk, Kunashir
  • Severo-Kurilsk, Paramushir
    Severo-Kurilsk, Paramushir
  • Atlasov
    Atlasov
  • A view of the volcano Bogdan Khmelnitsky on Iturup Island
    A view of the volcano Bogdan Khmelnitsky on Iturup Island
  • Mendeleyeva in the southern part of Kunashir
    Mendeleyeva in the southern part of Kunashir
  • Yuzhno-Kurilsky District
    Yuzhno-Kurilsky District
  • Ebeko volcano, Paramushir
    Ebeko volcano, Paramushir
  • White Rocks, Iturup
    White Rocks, Iturup

The following table lists information on the main islands from north to south:

Island Russian: Name Japanese: Name Alternative
names 		Island Group Administrative centre /
Landing point 		Other settlements Area Pop.
Severo-Kurilsky District North Kurils North Kurils (Kita-chishima / 北千島) Severo-Kurilsk Shelikovo,
Podgorny
, Baikovo 		3,504 km2
(1,353 sq mi) 		2,560
Shumshu Шумшу 占守島（しゅむしゅとう） Shumushu North Kurils Baikovo 388 km2
(150 sq mi) 		20
Atlasov Атласова 阿頼度島（あらいどとう） Oyakoba, Araido North Kurils Alaidskaya Bay 150 km2
(58 sq mi) 		0
Paramushir Парамушир 幌筵島（ぱらむしるとう） Paramushiru, Horomushiro North Kurils Severo-Kurilsk Shelikovo,
Podgorny
 2,053 km2
(793 sq mi) 		2,540
Antsiferov Анциферова 志林規島（しりんきとう） Shirinki North Kurils Antsiferov beach Cape Terkut 7 km2
(2.7 sq mi) 		0
Makanrushi Маканруши 磨勘留島（まかんるとう） Makanru North Kurils Zakat 50 km2
(19 sq mi) 		0
Avos' Авось 帆掛岩（ほかけいわ） Hokake, Hainoko North Kurils 0.1 km2
(0.039 sq mi) 		0
Onekotan Онекотан 温禰古丹島（おんねこたんとう） Onwakotan North Kurils Mussel Kuroisi, Nemo, Shestakov 425 km2
(164 sq mi) 		0
Kharimkotan Харимкотан 春牟古丹島（はりむこたんとう）
春牟古丹島（はるむこたんとう） 		Harimukotan, Harumukotan North Kurils Sunazhma Severgin Bay 70 km2
(27 sq mi) 		0
Ekarma Экарма 越渇磨島（えかるまとう） Ekaruma North Kurils Kruglyy 30 km2
(12 sq mi) 		0
Chirinkotan Чиринкотан 知林古丹島（ちりんこたんとう） North Kurils Cape Ptichy 6 km2
(2.3 sq mi) 		0
Shiashkotan Шиашкотан 捨子古丹島（しゃすこたんとう） Shasukotan North Kurils Makarovka 122 km2
(47 sq mi) 		0
Lowuschki-Felsen Ловушки 牟知列岩（むしるれつがん） Mushiru North Kurils 1.5 km2
(0.58 sq mi) 		0
Raikoke Райкоке 雷公計島（らいこけとう） North Kurils Raikoke 4.6 km2
(1.8 sq mi) 		0
Matua Матуа 松輪島（まつわとう） Matsuwa North Kurils Sarychevo 52 km2
(20 sq mi) 		0
Rasshua Расшуа 羅処和島（らしょわとう） Rashowa, Rasutsua North Kurils Arches Point 67 km2
(26 sq mi) 		0
Srednego Среднего 摺手岩（すりでいわ） Suride North Kurils Un­known 0
Ushishir Ушишир 宇志知島（うししるとう） Ushishiru North Kurils Kraternya Ryponkicha 5 km2
(1.9 sq mi) 		0
Ketoy Кетой 計吐夷島（けといとう） Ketoi North Kurils Storozheva 73 km2
(28 sq mi) 		0
Kurilsky District Middle Kurils (Naka-chishima / 中千島) split between both Japanese groups Kurilsk Reidovo, Kitovyi, Rybaki, Goryachiye Klyuchi, Kasatka, Burevestnik, Shumi-Gorodok, Gornyy 5,138 km2
(1,984 sq mi) 		6,606
Simushir Симушир 新知島（しむしるとう） Shimushiru, Shinshiru North Kurils Kraternyy Srednaya bay 360 km2
(140 sq mi) 		0
Broutona Броутона 武魯頓島（ぶろとんとう） Buroton, Makanruru North Kurils Nedostupnyy 7 km2
(2.7 sq mi) 		0
Chirpoy
 Чирпой 知理保以島（ちりほいとう） Chirihoi, Chierupoi North Kurils Peschanaya Bay 21 km2
(8.1 sq mi) 		0
Brat Chirpoyev
 Брат Чирпоев 知理保以南島（ちりほいなんじま） Chirihoinan North Kurils Garovnikova Semenova 16 km2
(6.2 sq mi) 		0
Urup Уруп 得撫島（うるっぷとう） Uruppu North Kurils Mys Kastrikum Mys Van-der-Lind 1,450 km2
(560 sq mi) 		0
Other North Kurils 4.4 km2
(1.7 sq mi) 		0
Iturup Итуруп 択捉島（えとろふとう） Etorofu, Ietorupu South Kurils (Minami-chishima / 南千島) Kurilsk Reidovo, Kitovyi, Rybaki, Goryachiye Klyuchi, Kasatka, Burevestnik, Shumi-Gorodok, Gornyy 3,280 km2
(1,270 sq mi) 		6,602
Yuzhno-Kurilsky District South Kurils South Kurils Yuzhno-Kurilsk Malokurilskoye, Rudnaya, Lagunnoye, Otrada, Goryachiy Plyazh, Aliger, Mendeleyevo, Dubovoye, Polino, Golovnino 1,860.8 km2
(718.5 sq mi) 		10,268
Kunashir Кунашир 国後島（くなしりとう） Kunashiri South Kurils Yuzhno-Kurilsk Rudnaya, Lagunnoye, Otrada, Goryachiy Plyazh, Aliger, Mendeleyevo, Dubovoye, Polino, Golovnino 1,499 km2
(579 sq mi) 		7,800
Shikotan Island Шикотан 色丹島（しこたんとう） South Kurils Malokurilskoye Dumnova, Otradnaya,
Voloshina
, Kray Sveta 		255 km2
(98 sq mi) 		2,440
Other South Kurils Ayvazovskovo 9.1 km2
(3.5 sq mi) 		0
Khabomai
 Хабомаи 歯舞群島（はぼまいぐんとう） Habomai South Kurils Zorkiy Zelyony, Polonskogo 97.7 km2
(37.7 sq mi) 		28
Polonskogo Полонского 多楽島（たらくとう） Taraku South Kurils Moriakov Bay station 11.57 km2
(4.47 sq mi) 		2
Oskolki Осколки 海馬島（かいばとう） Todo, Kaiba South Kurils Un­known 0
Zelyony Зелёный 志発島（しぼつとう） Shibotsu South Kurils Glushnevskyi station 58.72 km2
(22.67 sq mi) 		3
Kharkar Харкар 春苅島（はるかるとう） Harukaru, Dyomina South Kurils Haruka 0.8 km2
(0.31 sq mi) 		0
Yuri Юрий 勇留島（ゆりとう） Yuri South Kurils Kalernaya 10.32 km2
(3.98 sq mi) 		0
Anuchina Анучина 秋勇留島（あきゆりとう） Akiyuri South Kurils Bolshoye Bay 2.35 km2
(0.91 sq mi) 		0
Tanfil'yev Танфильев 水晶島（すいしょうじま） Suishō South Kurils Zorkiy Tanfilyevka Bay, Bolotnoye 12.92 km2
(4.99 sq mi) 		23
Storozhevoy Сторожевой 萌茂尻島（もえもしりとう） Moemoshiri South Kurils 0.07 km2
(0.027 sq mi) 		0
Rifovyy Рифовый オドケ島 Odoke South Kurils Un­known 0
Signal'nyy Сигнальный 貝殻島（かいがらじま） Kaigara South Kurils 0.02 km2
(0.0077 sq mi) 		0
Other South Kurils Opasnaya, Udivitelnaya 1 km2
(0.39 sq mi) 		0
Total: 10,503.2 km2
(4,055.3 sq mi) 		19,434

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kuril Islands". Britannica.com. 14 April 2023. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  2. ^ GSE Archived 2013-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "SAKHALIN.RU: Sakhalin and the Kuriles. Geography". Archived from the original on 2011-01-14. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
  4. ^ "Kuril Islands: factfile". The Daily Telegraph. London. November 1, 2010. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Koike, Yuriko (31 March 2014). "Japan's Russian Dilemma". Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Глава 26. Коренное население: айны". Archived from the original on 2022-02-18. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  7. ^ "Central Kuril Island Tsunami in Crescent City, California". University of Southern California Tsunami Research Center. 16 November 2006. Archived from the original on 4 December 2006. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  8. S2CID 20154991
    .
  9. ^ "Kuril islands (between Urup and Paramushir)". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2021. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  10. ISBN 978-0-19-821563-9. Archived
    from the original on 2023-07-07. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  11. ISBN 9780198215639. Archived
    from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2021. According to subsequent elaborations, a document in the Central State Archives [...] indicated that a merchant adventurer by the name of Fedot Alekseev Popov had reached the Kurils in 1649 after completing an odyssey from the Arctic [...] popular Soviet publications [...] have enshrined Popov as the discoverer of the Kurils.
  12. ISBN 9785884531222. Archived
    from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2021. Russians first set foot on the Kuril islands in August 1711 , when a detachment of Kamchatka Cossacks under the leadership of Daniil Antsiferov and Ivan Kozyrevsky landed on Shumshu, the northernmost of the Greater Kurils.
  13. ^ Eliza Adams, of Fairhaven, May 29 – Jun 13, June 24-Aug. 1, 1847, Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS); Splendid, of Edgartown, Aug. 12-Sep. 6, 1848, Nicholson Whaling Collection (NWC); Shepherdess, of Mystic, May 8–30, 1849, NWC; Hudson, of Fairhaven, Oct. 6, 1857, Kendall Whaling Museum (KWM); Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, Oct. 5–18, 1868, ODHS; Cape Horn Pigeon, of New Bedford, Aug. 23-Sep. 10, 1892, KWM.
  14. ^ Lexington, of Nantucket, May 31, 1855, Nantucket Historical Association.
  15. ISBN 1-55521-537-8
    .
  16. ^ The Friend (Vol. V, No. 12, Dec. 11, 1856, p. 93, Honolulu).
  17. ^ Cape Horn Pigeon, of New Bedford, Sep. 10, Sep. 19-Oct. 1, 1892, KWM.
  18. ISBN 978-4-88322-597-2
    .
  19. ^
    ISBN 978-0-684-80617-4
    .
  20. ISBN 978-0-41513-228-2
    .
  21. ISBN 978-9-00410-735-9
    .
  22. ISBN 9781935149927. Archived
    from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2021. Operation WEDLOCK in 1944 created a notional force in the northern Pacific that appeared ready to invade the Kuril Islands. This pinned down Japanese troops and equipment in an area the Americans had no intention of attacking.
  23. ^ "Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
  24. ^ "Распоряжение Правительства Российской Федерации от 08.02.2017 № 223-р" [Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 223-r dated February 8, 2017] (in Russian). Publication.pravo.gov.ru. 8 February 2017. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  25. ^ "It was hoped that the proceeds from the ongoing projects would help to alleviate the high level of poverty in the region". Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia, s.v. Sakhalin Oblast" (Europa Publications) 2003.
  26. ^ "Profile on Yuzhno-Kurilsk Mendeleyevo Airport". Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  27. ^ "Islands disputed with Japan feel Russia's boom". Archived from the original on 2007-10-29.
  28. ^ "Федеральный закон от 18.03.2023 № 84-ФЗ ∙ Официальное опубликование правовых актов". publication.pravo.gov.ru. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  29. ^ "Law on preferential regime in Kuril Islands to be effective in 2 months — Deputy PM". tass.com. Feb 2, 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  30. ^ "President Putin's Speech at the 2023 Far Eastern Economic Forum: Analysis". Russia Briefing News. 13 September 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  31. ^ Sebastien Roblin. "Russia Sends Pacific Island 'Machine Gun Artillery Division' To Ukraine". Forbes.com. Archived from the original on 2022-07-21. Retrieved 2022-08-04.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kuril Islands.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Kuril Islands.
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