The largest city on the Kuril Islands. Kurile Islands. Dossier. Kuril Islands on the map of Russia
Why do the Japanese claim the Kuril Islands? I'll try to retell it as briefly as possible.
The beginning of the conflict goes back to the distant past, when there were neither Russians nor Japanese on the islands. In the Kuril Islands then
lived the Ainu - an indigenous people, today represented in Russia by only a hundred people.
When the Cossacks first began to develop the Far Eastern territories, they, for the most part, were only concerned with trade with
Ainu, so no one dealt with the status of the lands for a long time. The Japanese, on the contrary, began to try to settle these lands -
fortunately they were within walking distance of the islands. In 1855, the Shimoda Treaty on Trade and Borders between Russia and
Japan. This document for the first time defined the border of the possessions of the two countries in the Kuril Islands - it passed between the islands of Iturup and
By that time, Japan had just emerged from two centuries of self-isolation and began to behave quite aggressively. This
resulted in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which ended in a humiliating defeat for us. Russian empire
lost control not only over the Kuril Islands, but also over South Sakhalin. Then, during World War II, the USSR carried out
landing operation against Japanese troops with the aim of capturing the Kuril Islands. It was successful, and on February 2, 1946
In 2010, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was formed in these territories as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR.
Thus, de facto South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands passed to the Union. But this was not legally established, that
subsequently resulted in a long conflict and confrontation - Japan sees the situation in its own way, the USSR and subsequently Russia
otherwise. However, in fact, the disputed islands are still ours. Russians live there, our laws apply, etc.
And now I propose to see what the city of Kurilsk on the disputed island of Iturup looks like...
2. Kurilsk (1500 people) is divided into two parts - the upper city and the lower one. Behind them is the village of Kitovoe. Kurilsk by
By and large, it has one street, to the right and left of which houses are chaotically stuck together:
3. The lower city is partly located on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, partly inside the island:
4. The first thing that catches your eye is the “tsunami danger zone” signs:
5. The sign shows where to run in the event of a cataclysm. Curiously, however, there has never been a tsunami on the island, even when it shook
Fukushima:
6. The second thing that catches your eye is the huge number of parks decorated with pebbles. They were collected on the beach under
called Rattle (due to the sound of pebbles during the waves). True, today all the stones from it have gone into architectural
sculptures, so they go to another part of the island for new material:
7. The entire city is owned by the company Gidrostroy, which, despite the name, deals with... fish. She owns almost everything
what is in the city, and its head is a fan of all kinds of sculptures and compositions:
9. The park was made in a very original and futuristic way; you wouldn’t expect to see something like this in the center of Kurilsk:
10. Everything in Kitov is also very nice: Observation deck designed in the shape of a boat:
11. There is no embankment here, but there is a gazebo under open air with benches and a table screwed to the floor:
12. The coolest entertainment in Kurilsk is the baths. They are made in hot springs and cost mere pennies (200
rubles per hour). Each bath is separated from the others; in the center there is a rotating faucet from which you get hot water. Order
you need in advance:
13. Water is not only hot, but also contains all sorts of minerals and compounds. You won’t lie in it for particularly long:
14. There are also strange things in Kurilsk, for example, a paid toilet for 30 rubles. Moreover, a controller sits in it and sells tickets.
I wonder how much the city makes from this business?
A road is being built next to the toilet. It should be noted that asphalt came to the island about five years ago; before that there was not a single road here:
15. Panorama of the lower city:
16. There are three hotels in the city, I lived in this one:
17. But there is also an expensive hotel, intended, as the locals told me, “for generals and FSB officers.” In the understanding of the residents
In the Kuril Islands, only those with a rank can be wealthy people. Notice how original it is made
flowerbed in the form of lightning:
18. There is a fountain in front of the hotel, and fish are bred in the lake:
19. There are quite a lot of playgrounds in Kurilsk:
20. There are puddles in the courtyards, the rains here almost never stop:
21. Private sector:
22. And this barn is the tax office building. It’s very unusual to see this, considering the kind of offices they are building in the rest of Russia:
23. Hair salon with bars on the windows:
24. Funeral services combined with a photo studio and copy center:
26. The city center consists of only stores - grocery, hardware, department stores and others:
27. Central street. There are storm drains on the roadsides, they are now being actively cleaned. In general, a lot of city residents are employed in the field
landscaping:
28. They plant trees and make walking paths:
29. Center upper city, residential courtyard:
30. Kindergarten building:
32. And this, so to speak, is a residential area (3 minutes from the center):
33. Paths between houses are either concreted or tiled:
34. There are three houses built with violations - you can clearly see how the building is shrinking:
35. How such a house was handed over and accepted is unclear:
36. Several new piers were built in the port. Now any ships can come here:
37. The tent in which the international forum “Iturup” was held. They say that Dmitry Medvedev was a special guest:
38. Finally, the Kuril airport is the only airport built from scratch after the USSR. It is called “Clear” and this reads
some irony - sometimes passengers wait for two weeks for the weather to fly away from the island.
It's simple. Underneath Japanophilia lies the desire to transform the Sea of Okhotsk from an internal Russian one into a sea open to the “world community.” With great consequences for us, both military and economic.
Well, who was the first to develop these lands? Why on earth does Japan consider these islands to be its ancestral territories?
To do this, let's look at the history of the development of the Kuril ridge.
The islands were originally inhabited by the Ainu. In their language, “kuru” meant “a person who came from nowhere,” which is where their second name “Kurilians” came from, and then the name of the archipelago.
In Russia, the Kuril Islands were first mentioned in the reporting document of N. I. Kolobov to Tsar Alexei in 1646 about the peculiarities of the wanderings of I. Yu. Moskvitin. Also, data from chronicles and maps of medieval Holland, Scandinavia and Germany indicate indigenous Russian villages. N.I. Kolobov spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the islands. The Ainu were engaged in gathering, fishing and hunting, living in small settlements throughout the Kuril Islands and on Sakhalin.
Founded after the campaign of Semyon Dezhnev in 1649, the cities of Anadyr and Okhotsk became bases for exploring the Kuril Islands, Alaska and California.
The development of new lands by Russia took place in a civilized manner and was not accompanied by the extermination or displacement of the local population from the territory of their historical homeland, as happened, for example, with the North American Indians. The arrival of the Russians led to the spread of more effective means of hunting and metal products among the local population, and most importantly, it contributed to the cessation of bloody inter-tribal strife. Under the influence of the Russians, these peoples began to engage in agriculture and move to a sedentary lifestyle. Trade revived, Russian merchants flooded Siberia and the Far East with goods, the existence of which the local population did not even know.
In 1654, the Yakut Cossack foreman M. Stadukhin visited there. In the 60s, part of the northern Kuril Islands was put on the map by the Russians, and in 1700 the Kuril Islands were put on the map of S. Remizov. In 1711, the Cossack ataman D. Antsiferov and captain I. Kozyrevsky visited the Paramushir Shumshu islands. The following year, Kozyrevsky visited the islands of Iturup and Urup and reported that the inhabitants of these islands lived “autocratically.”
I. Evreinov and F. Luzhin, who graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Geodesy and Cartography, made a trip to the Kuril Islands in 1721, after which the Evreinovs personally presented a report on this voyage and a map to Peter I.
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), described the Kuril ridge and mapped all the Kuril Islands and the eastern coast of Sakhalin.
The expedition established that only one island of Hokkaido was under the rule of the “Japanese Khan”, the rest of the islands were not subject to him. 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 - the Ainu - on the islands of Urup and Iturup were brought into Russian citizenship.
The merchant D. Shebalin was ordered by the office of the port of Okhotsk to “convert the residents of southern islands and start bargaining 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.
Russian missionaries did everything to spread Orthodoxy among the Kuril Ainu and taught them the Russian language. Deservedly first in this line of missionaries is the name of Ivan Petrovich Kozyrevsky (1686-1734), in the monasticism of Ignatius. A.S. Pushkin wrote that “Kozyrevsky in 1713 conquered the two Kuril Islands and brought Kolesov news of the trade of these islands with the merchants of the city of Matmaya.” In the texts of Kozyrevsky’s “Drawing for the Sea Islands” it was written: “On the first and other islands in Kamchatka Nos, from the autocratic ones shown on that campaign, he smoked with affection and greetings, and others, in military order, brought them back into tribute payment.” Back in 1732, the famous historian G.F. Miller noted in the academic calendar: “Before this, the local residents did not have any faith. But in twenty years, by order of His Imperial Majesty, churches and schools were built there, which give us hope, and from time to time this people will be brought out of their delusion.” Monk Ignatius Kozyrevsky in the south of the Kamchatka Peninsula, at his own expense, founded a church with a limit and a monastery, in which he himself later took monastic vows. Kozyrevsky managed to convert “the local people of other faiths” - the Itelmen of Kamchatka and the Kuril Ainu.
The Ainu fished, beat sea animals, baptized Orthodox churches their children, wore Russian clothes, had Russian names, spoke Russian and proudly called themselves Orthodox. In 1747, the “newly baptized” Kurilians from the islands of Shumshu and Paramushir, numbering more than two hundred people, through their toen (leader) Storozhev, turned to the Orthodox mission in Kamchatka with a request to send a priest “to confirm them in the new faith.”
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 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 the 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 equipping a 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 trade 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 of 1787-1791.
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 of Southern Sakhalin, fished, and robbed the Ainu, which caused frequent clashes 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 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.”
The government of Alexander II made the Middle East the main direction of its policy and Central Asia and, fearing to leave their relations with Japan uncertain in case of a new aggravation of relations with England, they signed the so-called St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875, according to which all the Kuril Islands, in exchange for recognition of Sakhalin as Russian territory, were 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: “.. . and henceforth eternal peace and friendship will be established between the Russian and Japanese Empires."
Russia has effectively lost access to the Pacific Ocean. Japan, whose imperial ambitions continued to increase, actually had the opportunity to begin a naval blockade of Sakhalin and the entire Far Eastern Russia at any moment.
The population of the Kuril Islands immediately after the establishment of Japanese power was described by the English captain Snow in his notes about the Kuril Islands:
“In 1878, when I first visited the northern islands...all northern residents spoke Russian more or less tolerably. All of them were Christians and professed the religion of the Greek Church. They were visited (and are still visited to this day) by Russian priests, and in the village of Mairuppo in Shumshir a church was built, the boards for which were brought from America. ...The largest settlements in the Northern Kuril Islands were in the port of Tavano (Urup), Uratman, on the shore of Broughtona Bay (Simushir) and the above-described Mairuppo (Shumshir). Each of these villages, in addition to huts and dugouts, had its own church...”
Our famous compatriot, Captain V.M. Golovnin, in the famous “Notes of the Fleet of Captain Golovnin...” mentions the Ainu, “who called himself Alexei Maksimovich.” ...
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 treaties, you have suffered defeat 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 treaty 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 would not change a single line. The USSR, and along with it Poland and Czechoslovakia, refused to sign the treaty. And what’s interesting is that Article 2 of this treaty states that Japan renounces all rights and title to the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Thus, Japan itself renounced its territorial claims to our country, confirming this with its signature.
1956, Soviet-Japanese negotiations on normalizing 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. The Americans presented Japan with an unexpected and difficult choice - in order to get the islands from the Americans, they had to take ALL the Kuril Islands from Russia. ...Either neither Kuril nor Ryukyu and Okinawa.
Of course, 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.
A.N. Kosygin once 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, M.S. Gorbachev, at a meeting with the SPJ delegation, also resolutely opposed the revision of borders, emphasizing that the borders between the USSR and Japan are “legal and legally justified” .
The Kuril archipelago is a chain of 56 large and small islands of volcanic origin. They are part of the Sakhalin region and stretch from north to south from Kamchatka to the shores of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The largest of them are Iturup, Paramushir, Kunashir and Urup, only three are inhabited - Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan, and besides them there are many small islands and rocks that stretch for 1200 km.
The Kuril Islands are interesting, first of all, for their nature. Volcanoes (most of which are active), lakes, thermal springs, varied landscapes and national parks are a real paradise for photographers and other lovers of beautiful views.
There is practically no infrastructure on the islands; transport, hotels and catering here are still not easy, however unique nature and the scenery compensates for all the inconveniences.
How to get there
Getting to the islands of the Kuril archipelago is difficult, but getting out is even more difficult. All Kuril transport - planes and ferries - is tied to weather, and they are not always favorable in the Sea of Okhotsk. Flight delays are calculated not in hours, but in days, so when planning your trips, it is always worth setting aside a few spare days for possible waiting.
You can get to Paramushir (Northern Kuriles) from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky by boat or helicopter. The South Kuril Islands, which are more popular among tourists, are reached from Sakhalin - by plane from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk or by ferry from Korsakov.
By plane
Flights from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Yuzhno-Kurilsk on Kunashir Island and to Kurilsk on Iturup Island are operated by Aurora Airlines. According to the schedule, planes depart every day, but in reality they depend on the weather. Travel time is 1 hour 20 minutes one way, ticket prices start from 400 USD round trip. Keep in mind that tickets should be purchased in advance as they sometimes sell out months in advance. Prices on the page are as of November 2018.
On a ferryboat
The ferry "Igor Farkhutdinov" from the port of Korsakov departs on schedule twice a week to the islands of Kunashir, Shikotan and Itupur (this is the same route with several stops). The schedule is very approximate, so you cannot buy tickets online in advance, and sailing times vary from a few hours to a day. Tickets are sold at the ticket office of the Korsakov port in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; they can no longer be purchased at the port itself.
You can only buy a one-way ticket; return tickets begin to be sold after departure on the ship itself (you need to sign up in the queue to buy).
The ferry takes about 20 hours, the conditions there are not the most luxurious, but quite decent: four- and double-bed cabins, as well as luxury cabins with amenities in the room, there is an inexpensive restaurant and bar on board (prices are already higher there), as well as a small library . Ticket prices start from 2800 RUB per person.
When crossing from Sakhalin to Kunashir there is usually a lot of swaying, and many passengers complain of seasickness, so it’s worth having anti-sickness pills with you just in case.
Obtaining an entry permit
To visit the Kuril Islands you need a pass to the border zone; it is issued by the Sakhalin Coast Guard branch of the FSB in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The application can be submitted on weekdays in the morning from 9:30 to 10:30 (you only need a passport and a photocopy of it, which can be made on the spot), the pass will be ready the next morning, there are usually no problems with receiving it.
If you try to come to the Kuril Islands without a pass, at a minimum, you will face a fine (about 500 RUB), and at a maximum, you will be sent back to Sakhalin on the same flight.
The pass is only issued to the islands specified in the application, so you must indicate all the places you intend to visit.
Search for air tickets to the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (the nearest airport to the Kuril Islands)
Weather in the Kuril Islands
The most comfortable weather for traveling around the Kuril Islands is from mid-June to mid-September. June and July have the least rain, and August is considered the hottest month by local standards - around +15 °C. The Southern Kuril Islands are consistently cooler than the northern ones, here in August it is about +10...+12 °C, and in the Northern Kuril Islands at the same time - up to +16...+18 °C due to warm currents.
September and October are the rainiest months on the Kuril archipelago, and the air temperature in October is about +8...+10 °C. Humidity in this region is quite high all year round.
In winter in the south there are frosts down to −25 °C, in the north it is a little warmer - up to −16…-18 °C.
Kuril Islands Hotels
The tourist infrastructure on the Kuril Islands is not developed. There are several small hotels in Kunashir and one in Iturup. The total hotel stock is about 70 rooms, there are no large hotels, and all buildings are low-rise due to the high seismicity of the region.
You cannot reserve a room through popular online booking systems - these hotels are not represented there. You need to book directly by phone (not every hotel has online booking forms or even its own website) or through a travel agency.
The average cost of living is about 3000 RUB per day for a double room. The conditions are quite spartan, but there is a bed and a bathroom in the room.
Cuisine and restaurants
There are few cafes and restaurants on the Kuril Islands; they are all located in cities and usually at hotels. The restaurant in the House of Russian-Japanese Friendship in Yuzhno-Kurilsk, where Japanese tourists often stop, is considered the best.
Also in cities and towns there are small cafes and shops where you can buy delicious seafood snacks: squid, octopus, etc. Prices for everything except fish and seafood are about 20-30% higher than on the mainland.
Entertainment and attractions
The main attraction of the Kuril archipelago is its amazing nature. This is a mountain range that rises from the depths of the ocean and shows only its peaks. There are about 40 active and many extinct volcanoes, the tallest of active volcanoes- Alaid on Atlasov Island, 30 km from Paramushir Island in the Northern Kuril Islands. Its height is 2339 m and with its outlines and regular cone shape it resembles Japanese volcano Fuji.
The volcano island of Chirinkotan is almost inaccessible due to the rocky coast; you can only moor to it by boat in one and only place - at the highest rock. The volcano is constantly smoking, and the island itself is notable for the fact that hundreds of birds gather here for bird markets.
In the northern part of Iturup Island you can see the White Rocks - ridges of a porous structure of volcanic origin stretch for 28 km and are rugged picturesque canyons. The coastline near the cliffs is covered with white quartz and black titanomagnetite sand.
On the island of Kunashir, a warehouse of Japanese left boots has been partially preserved. In the Japanese army, the left and right boots were stored separately to prevent theft, and also so that the enemy could not use them if they discovered the warehouse.
Lakes and thermal springs
The lakes of the Kuril Islands are also famous for their beauty. Especially picturesque Mountain Lake Autumn on Onekotan Island. It is round in shape, the banks are framed by steep 600-700-meter cliffs. On the island of Kunashir there is a boiling lake Ponto. The water here seethes, bubbles, and jets of gas and steam whistle out near the shores.
On the slopes of the Baransky volcano there are unique thermal springs and reservoirs, and on the rocky plateau there is an entire geothermal station that generates electricity. There are geysers, lakes, sulfur streams and pools of boiling mud. The most famous hot lake is the Emerald Eye, whose temperature reaches 90 degrees. The Boiling River flows from it with hot and sour water, which breaks off in one place and falls from an 8-meter height as a hot waterfall.
The water in the sea around the islands is crystal clear, and the bottom is covered with vegetation, where fish and other fish live. Marine life. Divers will be interested here: in addition to marine life, at the bottom you can see sunken Japanese ships and other military equipment.
National parks
On the territory of the Kuril archipelago there are two national parks. The Small Kuriles Nature Reserve is located on several islands at once, for the most part- on Shikotan, and also includes part of the Pacific Ocean. The reserve was established in 1982 to preserve the population of rare birds and animals, mainly marine ones. Seals, northern fur seals, gray dolphins, humpback whales and other animals live here.
Scope valid until 2015 Federal Target Program "Socio-economic development of the Kuril Islands for 2007-2015" amounts to 21 billion rubles.
The bulk of this amount is allocated from the federal budget. The Sakhalin Region also plans to attract funds from private investors for the development of the Kuril Islands. Private investment in the islands' economy now amounts to a billion rubles a year, and by 2015 it will increase to 6 billion. details about the new infrastructure of the Kuril Islands (many photos) The Kuril Islands include 30 large and many small islands. The population lives permanently only in Paramushir, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan. Population of the Kuril Islands - 18,735 people Kunashir Island- the southernmost island of the Great Kuril Islands. Population - approx. 8000 people. Yuzhno-Kurilsk- administrative center of the South Kuril Okrug. 
Social housing 
In August 2012, a ceremony for presenting warrants and keys to new apartments took place in Yuzhno-Kurilsk. The 10-apartment building was built with funds from the regional and local budgets under one of the regional programs. 
House of Culture (medical and educational expedition “Borders of Russia”, August 2010) 
New kindergarten Port of Yuzhno-Kurilsk New deep-water pier 
The commissioning of modern deep-sea berthing complexes in Kunashir and Iturup will bring the transport infrastructure in the Kuril Islands to a qualitatively new level and improve the quality of life on the islands. The motor ship "Igor Farkhutdinov" moored at the new pier for the first time (February 2011) 
Construction is underway with funds from the federal program for the socio-economic development of the Kuril Islands and the budget of the Sakhalin region marine terminal on the territory of the constructed mooring complex in the South Kuril Bay. In addition to passengers, this building will house various services - a border checkpoint, a customs post, port supervision, administration and a control room. seaport. Completion of construction is planned for 2012. 
Mendeleevo Airport The airfield was built by the Japanese when the island of Kunashir was still under Japanese control and has hardly been rebuilt since then. In 2006 it was closed due to complete deterioration of the infrastructure and destruction of the runway. During the reconstruction, within the framework of the Federal Target Program for the socio-economic development of the Kuril Islands, a new passenger terminal, taxiways, new apron, runway (runway), landing system and lighting equipment. Operates on the island Mendeleevskaya GeoTPP(geothermal power plant), which provides the island with heat and electricity. Volcano energy as a source of heat and light for humans is the operating principle of this station. Commissioning of the second stage of the station in 2007 provided 100% of the heat demand in Yuzhno-Kurilsk. The planned modernization of the Mendeleevskaya Geothermal Power Plant will increase its capacity from 3.6 MW to 7.4 MW. 
On about. Kunashir operates two fish processing plants - LLC PKF "South Kuril Fish Processing Plant" and LLC "Delta". The Yuzhno-Kuril Fish Processing Plant has modernized its production processing lines. All fish and seafood caught by its own trawl fleet are delivered ashore without loss of quality. Integrated shift of 25 people successfully copes with large volumes of incoming raw materials.In 2011, the first kilometers of asphalt were laid on Kunashir Island. 
Iturup Island-an island of the southern group of the Great Ridge of the Kuril Islands, the largest island of the archipelago. Population - 6387 people. Kurilsk- the administrative center of the island. In the village of Kurilsk last years The modern microdistrict "Severny" was built. It is planned to build within its boundaries Grand Palace culture and sports, under the roof of which there will be a sports complex, a swimming pool, a cultural center and other institutions. In 2006, a modern fish processing complex "Reidovo" was launched on the island.. 
Six air freezing chambers ensure the production of 74 tons of finished frozen fish products per day. 
On about. Iturup also houses the Yasny fish processing plant, equipped with a one-of-a-kind freezing tunnel for air freezing of fish, which allows the continuous freezing of 210 tons of finished fish products per day. There is a caviar workshop where 3 tons of caviar are produced per day. In addition, there is a salting shop with a capacity of 25 tons per day and a refrigerator with a capacity of 2300 tons of simultaneous storage. There are several other fishing enterprises, the largest of which are Skit, Bug, and Continent. Kurilskaya buildings have already been built on the island high school for 250 students, as well as a modern central district hospital with 50 beds and a clinic for 100 visits per shift. New hospital 
Sports complex 
improvement work 
In February 2012, two 8-apartment buildings were put into operation 
New airport“Iturup” is located on the sunny side of the island, which will allow you to easily get to the island even in bad weather. The extended 2.2 km long runway will accommodate all types of aircraft operating in the region. Near Kurilsk there is a geothermal spring with radon waters. 
A few years ago, the springs consisted of two concrete vats for salting fish, in which vacationers took baths, not forgetting to litter the surrounding area with broken bottle glass. Geothermal springs were improved by the company "Gidrostoroy" 
Shikotan Island- the largest island of the Malaya ridge of the Kuril Islands. Malokurilskoe- the administrative center of the island. Population - approx. 2100 people. Using funds from the federal program, a deep-water pier has already been built and is being operated in Malokurilskaya Bay on Shikotan, and in the neighboring Krabozavodskaya Bay on the same Shikotan, the construction of a pier is nearing completion on co-financing terms - the own funds of Gidrostroy JSC and the regional budget. 
The Krabozavodsk fish processing complex is equipped with the most modern equipment. 
The workshop's capacity allows it to receive and process up to 300 tons of raw fish every day. 
New kindergarten for 70 places (2010)
A chain of islands located between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido and separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. Includes a total of 56 islands. All of them are part of the Sakhalin region of Russia.
In 1786, the Kuril Islands were declared Russian territory. In 1855, under the terms of the Treaty of Shimoda, the Southern Kuril Islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group of islands - were ceded to Japan, and in 1875 - under the terms of the St. Petersburg Treaty - Japan received the entire Kuril ridge in exchange for Southern Sakhalin. In 1945, all the islands finally became part of the USSR. The ownership of the Southern Kuril Islands is still disputed by the Japanese side.
First steps in exploring the Kuril Islands
Before the arrival of the Russians and Japanese, the Ainu lived on the islands. The etymology of the name of the archipelago goes back to the word “kuru”, which translated from the Ainu language meant “a person who came from nowhere.”
The Japanese received the first information about the islands during an expedition to Hokkaido in 1635. In 1644, a map was drawn up on which the Kuril Islands were designated as “a thousand islands.” In 1643, the Dutch expedition of Moritz de Vries visited the archipelago. The Dutch compiled more accurate and detailed maps islands and their description, put Urup and Iturup on the map, but did not assign them to themselves. Today the strait between these two islands bears the name Frieza.
In 1697, members of Vladimir Atlasov’s expedition to Kamchatka compiled from the words local residents a description of the Kuril Islands, which later formed the basis of the first Russian map of the archipelago, compiled in 1700 by Semyon Remezov.
In 1711, a detachment of Ataman Danila Antsiferov and Captain Ivan Kozyrevsky visited the islands of Shumshu and Kunashir. On Shumshu, the Ainu tried to resist the Cossacks, but were defeated. In 1713, Kozyrevsky led a second expedition to the islands. At Paramushir, he again encountered armed opposition from the local population, but this time he repelled the attacks. For the first time in the history of the archipelago, its inhabitants recognized the power of Russia over themselves and paid tribute. From the local Ainu and Japanese, Kozyrevsky learned about the existence of a number of other islands, and also established that the Japanese are prohibited from sailing north of the island of Hokkaido, and the inhabitants of the islands of Urup and Iturup “live autocratically and are not subject to citizenship.” The result of Kozyrevsky’s second campaign was the creation of the “Drawing-map of the Kamchadal nose and sea islands", which was the first to depict the Kuril Islands from Cape Lopatka in Kamchatka to the shores of Hokkaido. In 1719, the expedition of Ivan Evreinov and Fyodor Luzhin visited the Kuril Islands and reached the island of Simushir. In 1727, Catherine I approved the “Opinion of the Senate” on the need to “take possession of the islands lying near Kamchatka.”
In 1738-1739, the expedition of Martyn Shpanberg followed along the entire Kuril ridge. After this expedition, a new map Kuril Islands, included in the Atlas in 1745 Russian Empire. In 1761, a Senate decree allowed free fishing of sea animals on the islands with a tenth of the catch being given to the treasury. During the second half of the 18th century, Russians actively explored the Kuril Islands. Sailing to the southern islands was dangerous, so the Russians concentrated on exploring northern islands, regularly collecting yasak from the local population. Those who did not want to pay yasak and went south were taken hostages from among their close relatives - amanats. In 1749, the first school for educating Ainu children appeared on the island of Shumshu, and in 1756, the first church of St. Nicholas on the islands of the ridge.
In 1766, centurion Ivan Cherny went to the southern islands, who was tasked with bringing the Ainu into citizenship without the use of violence or threats. The centurion ignored the decree and abused his powers, as a result of which in 1771 the indigenous population rebelled against the Russians. Unlike Ivan Cherny, the Siberian nobleman Antipov and the translator Shabalin managed to win over the inhabitants of the Kuril Islands. In 1778-1779, they brought into citizenship more than one and a half thousand people from the islands of Iturup and Kunashir, as well as from the island of Hokkaido. In 1779, Catherine II issued a decree exempting those who accepted Russian citizenship from all taxes.
In 1786, Japan equipped the first expedition to explore the southern islands of the Kuril chain. The Japanese, led by Mogami Tokunai, established that the Russians had founded their own settlements on the islands.
Kuril Islands at the endXVIII- middleXIX century
On December 22, 1786, Catherine II ordered the Collegium of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire to officially announce that the open Pacific Ocean lands, including the Kuril archipelago, belong to the Russian crown. By this time, Russia fulfilled all three conditions necessary, in accordance with the then accepted international standards, to position the territory as one’s own: first discovery, first development and long-term continuous possession. In the “Extensive Land Description of the Russian State...” of 1787, a list of islands that belonged to Russia was given. It included 21 islands up to Matsumae (Hokkaido). In 1787, the Kuril Islands were supposed to be visited by a large-scale expedition by G.I. Mulovsky, but due to the outbreak of wars with Turkey and Sweden, it had to be canceled.
In 1795, the campaign of G.I. Shelikhov founded the first permanent Russian settlement in the Kuril Islands in the southeast of the island of Urup. Vasily Zvezdochetov became its manager.
In 1792, the southern islands of the ridge were visited by a new Japanese expedition, Mogami Tokunai, and in 1798, another expedition led by Mogami Tokunai and Kondo Juzo. In 1799, the Japanese government ordered outposts with permanent guards to be located on Kunashir and Iturup. In the same year, the Japanese authorities officially incorporated the northern part of the island of Hokkaido into the state. In 1800, the first permanent Japanese settlement appeared on Iturup - Syana (now Kurilsk). In 1801, the Japanese attempted to establish control over the island of Urup, but were met with resistance from local Russian settlers. In 1802, an office for the colonization of the Kuril Islands was established in the city of Hakodate in the south of Hokkaido.
In 1805, N.P. Rezanov, a representative of the Russian-American campaign, arrived in Nagasaki as an envoy. He tried to resume negotiations with Japanese diplomats regarding the establishment of the Russian-Japanese border, but failed: Rezanov insisted that Japan should not lay claim to any of the islands north of Hokkaido, while the Japanese demanded territorial concessions.
In May 1807, the Russian ship “Juno” arrived at the island of Iturup, accompanied by the tender “Avos” (commanders N.A. Khvostov and G.I. Davydov, respectively). The landing force that landed on the island destroyed Japanese settlements, including the large settlement of Xiang, and defeated the local Japanese garrison. Following Iturup, the Russians expelled the Japanese from Kunashir. The government sharply condemned the violent actions taken by Khvostov and Davydov: for “willfulness against the Japanese,” they lost the awards they had received for their participation in the war against Sweden. In 1808, the Japanese restored the destroyed settlements and significantly increased their military presence in the southern islands. In 1811, the Kunashir garrison captured the crew of the sloop “Diana”, led by the ship’s commander V. M. Golovnin. A year and a half later, after Russia officially recognized the “arbitrariness” of the actions of Khvostov and Davydov, the sailors were released, and Japanese troops left Iturup and Kunashir.
In 1830, the Russian-American Company established a permanent Kuril detachment with rule on the island of Simushir. In 1845, Japan unilaterally declared sovereignty over the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.
Treaty of Shimoda and Treaty of St. Petersburg
In 1853, a Russian diplomatic mission headed by Admiral E.V. Putyatin arrived in Japan with the goal of establishing diplomatic and trade relations with Japan. The Russian government believed that the border between the countries should run along the La Perouse Strait and the southern tip of the Kuril Ridge, and the Kuril Islands themselves, accordingly, should belong to Russia. Japan considered the possibility of agreeing to these conditions, but after the entry of the Russian Empire into the Crimean War and the complications of its international position, it put forward a demand to include the Southern Kuril Islands and Southern Sakhalin in Japan. Putyatin, to whom “additional instructions” allowed him, as a last resort, to agree to recognize the southern islands as Japan, was forced to do this. On January 26 (February 7), 1855, the first Russian-Japanese trade agreement, the Shimoda Treaty, was signed in Shimodo. According to this agreement, the border between the countries was drawn between the islands of Iturup and Urup.
On September 2, 1855, the British and French frigates Pic and Sybil took possession of the island of Urup. The settlement of the Russian-American campaign on the island was devastated, and the island itself was declared a joint Anglo-French possession.
The terms of the Shimoda Treaty were confirmed by the Ieda Treaty on Trade and Navigation signed by Russia and Japan in 1858. In 1868, when the Russian-American campaign was terminated, the Kuril Islands were virtually abandoned. On April 25 (May 7), 1875, after the Shogunate had fallen in Japan and Emperor Mutsuhito (Meiji) had come to power, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of St. Petersburg. Under its terms, Russia ceded to Japan the rights to the central and northern parts of the Kuril ridge in exchange for renouncing claims to the southern part of Sakhalin.
Kuril Islands as part of Japan, the USSR and the Russian Federation
When they were the territory of the Japanese Empire, the Kuril Islands were under the control of the governorate of Hokkaido. The Japanese administration laid roads and telegraph lines on the islands of Iturup (Etorofu) and Kunashir (Kunasiri), established postal communications, and opened post offices. Fishing was actively developing: in every locality there was a fisheries inspection and a salmon breeding enterprise. By 1930, the population of Kunashir was approximately 8,300 people, Iturup - 6,300 people.
In February 1945, as part of the Yalta Conference, the Soviet government promised the United States and Great Britain to start a war with Japan on the condition that the USSR would receive the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. On August 9, 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan. On August 14, Emperor Hirohito issued a decree of surrender, but Japanese troops on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands continued to resist. On August 18, Soviet forces began the Kuril landing operation. By September 1, the islands of the Kuril archipelago were completely occupied by Soviet units. On September 2, Japan signed the instrument of surrender.
On February 2, 1946, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree on the inclusion of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands into the RSFSR. For a short time, these territories formed the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk region as part of the Khabarovsk Territory, and then, in 1947, they were merged with Sakhalin region and transferred to direct subordination of the RSFSR. In the same year, the deportation of the Japanese and the few Ainu remaining on the islands was carried out.
On November 5, 1952, the coast of the Kuril Islands was severely damaged by a powerful tsunami. The most serious damage was caused to Paramushir: the city of Severo-Kurilsk was washed away by a giant wave. The tragedy was not advertised in the media.
The Kuril Islands in Japan's relations with the USSR and the Russian Federation
On September 8, 1951, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, according to which it renounced all possessions outside Japanese Islands, including South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The USSR did not sign the treaty, refusing to participate in the conference before its completion. Because of this, Japan's abandonment of the Kuril Islands was not officially recorded. In 1955, when Soviet-Japanese peace negotiations began in London, Japan - largely under pressure from the United States - put forward claims to the islands of Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and the Habomai islands. On October 19, 1956, in Moscow, the USSR and Japan signed a joint declaration, which stated the end of the state of war between states, the restoration of peace and good neighborly relations, as well as the resumption of diplomatic relations. The terms of the agreement stipulated the return of Shikotan Island and the Lesser Kuril Ridge (Habomai Islands) to Japan, but after the conclusion of a peace treaty. Already in 1960, the USSR government abandoned its previous intention and from then until 1991 considered the territorial issue with Japan to be finally resolved. Only on April 19, 1991, during a visit to Japan, M. S. Gorbachev admitted that there were territorial differences between the USSR and Japan.
In 1992, the Russian Foreign Ministry was preparing for President B.N. Yeltsin’s visit to Japan with the aim of holding negotiations on the future fate of the Southern Kuril Islands. The trip, however, did not take place, largely due to the opposition of the Supreme Council deputies to the idea of transferring part of the islands. On October 13, 1993, the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of Japan signed the Tokyo Declaration, and on November 13, 1998, the Moscow Declaration. Both documents stated that the parties should continue negotiations with the aim of speedily concluding a peace treaty and normalizing bilateral relations. The Moscow Declaration scheduled a peace treaty for 2000, but this never happened.
On July 3, 2009, the Japanese Parliament adopted an amendment to the Law “On Special Measures to Promote the Resolution of the Problem of the Northern Territories”, which declared Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands to be the “original territories” of Japan. The Federation Council protested about this. In November of the same year, the Japanese government called the southern islands of the chain “illegally occupied” by Russia, which also led to a protest, this time from the Russian Foreign Ministry. In subsequent years, the Japanese side repeatedly protested against visits to the southern islands of the Kuril chain by high-ranking Russian officials and top officials of the state.