ABSTRACT
The Kurile Islands form a chain linking the Kamchatka Peninsula with Hokkaido, the most northerly island of Japan. The islands divide the Sea of Okhotsk from the main basin of the Pacific Ocean and have a population of 25,000 civilians and perhaps as many as 10,000 Russians. Legally, all the Kurile Islands are part of Russia despite the fact that Suisho, one of the Habomais, is only 2.7 nml from Hokkaido. In addition, the Russians based their arguments on the Yalta Agreement, while the Japanese considered that their claims to the southern islands were covered by the treaties of 1855 and 1875. In contrast, Japan insists that the Kurile Islands are not part of the northern territories which it gave up in 1951. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, relations between Russia and Japan, particularly in the economic sphere, have greatly improved.
