Russia would welcome Japan’s participation in its plans to improve living standards on the disputed Kuril Islands, Sakhalin’s acting Governor Oleg Kozhemyako said last week. A nine-year federal program is due to swing into action next year.
The disputed island were annexed by Soviet forces during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation at the end of World War II and are currently administered as the South Kuril District of the Sakhalin Oblast; but Japan also claims sovereignty over four of them – Etorofu, Kunarishi, Shitkotan and Habomai – in the Southern Kuril chain.
“The idea of inviting Japanese companies to the Kurils is a practical one,” says Petr Samoylenko, head of the Vladivostok-based Regional Center for Asian-Pacific Studies in the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies told RBTH. “As the territory is and will stay Russian, inviting Japan to participate in the regional economic initiatives, can help to avoid much of the political rhetoric and find a consensus beneficial for all,” he added.“It is also within Russian interests to diversify its Foreign Economic Activities in the Far East and to include all major Eastern powers – Japan, China and Korea. All of them are interested in participating in lucrative investment projects in the Russian Far East.”
“If Japan is not interested, we could also propose that other neighbouring countries such as South Korea take part in the program,” Kozhemyako added, perhaps a little pointedly.
Russia invites Japan to co-develop disputed Kuril Islands
Source: rbth