According to the Russian news agency TASS, the US State Department identified the birthplace of 20,000 Russian residents living on the Southern Kuril Islands as “Japan” in a green card application document. In response, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested to the United States on December 6.
The “diversified immigrant visa” involved this time, also known as the “green card lottery”, is a special long-term visa issued by the U.S. Department of State to “promote ethnic diversity in the United States” and is issued to ethnic groups with a low proportion in the United States.
According to TASS and other Russian media reports, on December 4, a report in Japan’s “Hokkaido Shimbun” found that in the information related to “diversified immigrant visas” issued by the U.S. State Department, people living in the Southern Kuril Islands (called “Northern Four Islands” in Japan.” ) Russian residents whose place of birth is marked as Japan by the document.
According to data, the Soviet government filed a territorial claim against the South Kuril Islands in accordance with the “Yalta Agreement” and the “San Francisco Peace Treaty” after World War II. At present, the South Kuril Islands are under the actual control of Russia.
The main residents are Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars and Ainu people, and they are under the jurisdiction of South Kurilsk County, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia.
However, the Japanese government refused to give up its claim to sovereignty over this area, insisting on calling it the Northern Territory or the Four Northern Islands, and declared that this place was administratively placed under the Hokkaido Nemuro Promotion Bureau.
Japan’s move was unilaterally recognized by the US government. For a long time, the territorial dispute here has been an important diplomatic issue between Japan and Russia.
In response, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a protest statement to the United States on social media.
The statement sternly stated that the U.S. move was “inciting territorial revanchism” and denounced it as a “historical revisionist power.” In addition, the statement also listed Part of the historical documents was re-emphasized that the South Kuril Islands are “Russian territory.”
Since Yoshihide Suga became Japanese Prime Minister, Japan and Russia have also experienced conflicts over disputed territories. On the evening of September 29, Yoshihide Suga reconfirmed the consensus reached between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Putin in November 2018 during the first telephone meeting with Russian President Putin, demonstrating that he would inherit the line of the Abe government and transfer the South Kuril Islands The two islands of the Tomamai Islands and Sedan Islands are the core of the negotiations.
However, on the day of the call, the Russian army announced that it would launch military exercises on the other two islands of the Southern Kuril Islands, Kunashir Island and Zecru Island.
The main content was to prevent attacks by enemy landing forces. In addition, according to Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, Russia’s Eastern Military District announced on December 1 the deployment of a long-range S-300V4 air defense missile system in the Southern Kuril Islands.
