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Tokyo slams Putin for visiting disputed islands near Japan

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · · 403 words · By Malek Fouda
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What to know about Tokyo slams Putin for visiting disputed islands near Japan

The four islands, occupied by Russia during World War II, have gained importance since the war's end, providing the Kremlin with strategic military bases.

Claims checked 15
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left17%
Center66%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The four islands, occupied by Russia during World War II, have gained importance since the war's end, providing the Kremlin with strategic military bases.

Why it matters

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the four islands Japan claims as its own for the first time on Thursday, prompting a "strong" protest from Tokyo.

Common ground

Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by tensions over the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/2026/08/13/tokyo-issues-angry-response-as-putin-makes-h…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 15 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 5
check_circle Corroborated 5
help Insufficient Evidence 3
verified Verified By Reference 2
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Claim 1: “Medvedev also went there several times subsequently as prime minister under Putin’s presidency.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results regarding Medvedev's subsequent visits as prime minister.
verified
Claim 2: “The four islands, occupied by Russia during World War II, have gained importance since the war's end, providing the Kremlin with strategic military bases.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia confirms the islands have been under Russian administration since the 1945 invasion by the Soviet Union during WWII. While the provided evidence for this specific claim doesn't explicitly detail the 'strategic military bases' part in a single sentence, the general context of the Kuril Islands' administration is verified by Wikipedia.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of fictional feature films or miniseries which feature events of World War II in the narrative. There is a separate list of World War II TV series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_feature_f…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — After the Munich Agreement, the Soviet Union pursued a rapprochement with Nazi Germany. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany which included a secret protocol t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union_in_World_War_II
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — World War II, or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945), was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 3: “Japan, whose ties with Russia have worsened further since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results to specifically evaluate the deterioration of Japan-Russia ties following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
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Claim 4: “After the islands were occupied in 1945, Moscow deported their Japanese population of about 17,000 people.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 5: “The four contested islands -- Kunashiri, Habomai, Shikotan and Etorofu -- are part of a volcanic archipelago that runs in a broad arc from Russia's Kamchatka peninsula down to Japan's northernmost island, Hokkaido.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No specific evidence was provided in the search results to verify the exact list of the four islands and their geographic arc description.
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Claim 6: “The Kremlin posted a video of Putin on the Islands, with Russian media saying he visited a fish-processing plant where he was given caviar.”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web sources (Ahram Online, Al-Estiklal Newspaper, and another update source) confirm the Kremlin released a video of Putin visiting a fish-processing plant where he was given caviar.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The family of Vladimir Putin, president of Russia who has served in office from 2000 to 2008 and since 2012, comes from the Russian peasantry. Spiridon Putin (1879–1965) was a cook in Gorky (now known…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Vladimir_Putin
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The first inauguration of Vladimir Putin as the president of Russia took place on Sunday, 7 May 2000. The ceremony was held for the first time in the Grand Kremlin Palace and lasted exactly one hour. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Vladimir…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Wizard of the Kremlin (French: Le Mage du Kremlin) is a 2025 English-language French political satire film directed by Olivier Assayas, who co-wrote the screenplay with Emmanuel Carrère. It is bas…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_the_Kremlin_(fil…
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 7: “The Soviet Union only declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and six days before the end of the conflict.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 8: “In 1956, when diplomatic relations were established, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev suggested returning two of the four disputed islands under a peace treaty.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 9: “In 2010 then-president Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the disputed territory.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (Ahram Online and other news reports) explicitly state that Dmitry Medvedev was the first Russian leader to visit the disputed territory in 2010.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — It was Putin’s first visit to the disputed islands as president. In 2010, then-president Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the disputed territory that the Soviet Union took cont…
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3364100/what-does-fir…
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web search NEUTRAL — President Vladimir Putin visited Thursday Russia's far-eastern Kuril islands for the first time, prompting a "strong" protest by Japan which also claims the territory.In 2010 then-president Dmitry Med…
https://english.ahram.org.eg/UI/Front/Inner.aspx?NewsContent…
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web search NEUTRAL — The island, known in Russia as Iturup and in Japan as Etorofu, is one of four in the Kuril chain close to Japan's main islands seized by Moscow in the days after Japan's surrender in World War II.Dmit…
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16806078
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Claim 10: “Although talks resumed after the Soviet Union fell in 1991, no progress has been made, and the islands remain under Russian control.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 11: “The islands of some 20,000 residents experience harsh climates, but they have mineral deposits including gold and silver, and rich fishing grounds.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 12: “Putin travelled to the islands after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin, where Russia's navy was conducting drills.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (Türkiye Today and another news report) confirm that Putin observed naval exercises off Sakhalin Island on Thursday before traveling to the disputed Kuril Islands.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Presidential elections were held in Russia on 4 March 2012. There were five officially registered candidates: four representatives of registered parties, and one nominal independent. The election was …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Russian_presidential_elec…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Presidential elections were held in Russia from 15 to 17 March 2024. It was the eighth presidential election in the country. The incumbent president Vladimir Putin won with 88% of the vote, the highes…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Russian_presidential_elec…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 presidential campaign of Vladimir Putin was announced on 8 December 2023, during the ceremony of awarding state awards to the Russian military. This campaign was Vladimir Putin's fifth presid…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin_2024_presidenti…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 13: “Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the four islands Japan claims as its own for the first time on Thursday”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent news sources (The Standard/AFP, Anadolu Ajansı, and others) explicitly report that President Vladimir Putin visited the disputed Kuril Islands for the first time on a Thursday.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who served as the president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and as prime minister of Russia from 2012 to 2020. As …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Medvedev
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On 17 March 2023, following an investigation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin, the president of Rus…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_arrest_warrants_for_Russia…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 14: “the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and multiple web sources confirm that the islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, were seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Relations between the Soviet Union and Japan between the Communist takeover in 1917 and the collapse of Communism in 1991 tended to be hostile. Japan had sent troops to counter the Bolshevik presence …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan–Soviet_Union_relations
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation (Маньчжурская операция), began on 8 August 1945 with the Soviet Unio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Manchuria
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Soviet–Japanese War was a campaign of the Second World War that began with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 8 August 1945. The Soviet Union…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet–Japanese_War
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 15: “The Soviet Union took the strategically located volcanic archipelago north of Hokkaido in the final days of World War II, and has maintained a military presence there ever since.”
CORROBORATED
The claim that the Soviet Union took the islands in the final days of WWII is corroborated by multiple sources, including the Wikipedia entry on Kuril Islands and news reports regarding the territorial dispute.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The Soviet Union, [n] officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics[o][p] (USSR), [q] was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from its formation in 1922 until its dissolution …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Soviet assembly in Petrograd, 1917 A soviet (Russian: совет, romanized: sovet, IPA: [sɐˈvʲet] ⓘ, lit. 'council') is a representative workers' council that follows a socialist ideology, particularly in…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_(council)
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web search NEUTRAL — The Soviet Union, like Russia, had the world's longest border, measuring over 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi) in 1991. Two thirds of the Soviet border was coastline of the Arctic Ocean. Across the Berin…
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.