An island from the Kuril Islands. Need to know!! history of the Kuril issue

Statement Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe the intention to resolve a territorial dispute over Kuril Islands and again drew the attention of the general public to the so-called "problem of the South Kuriles" or "northern territories".

Shinzo Abe's loud statement, however, does not contain the main thing - an original solution that could suit both sides.

Land of the ainu

The dispute over the South Kurils dates back to the 17th century, when there were no Russians or Japanese on the Kuril Islands yet.

The indigenous population of the islands can be considered the Ainu - a people, the origin of which scholars argue to this day. The Ainu, who once inhabited not only the Kuriles, but all the Japanese islands, as well as the lower reaches of the Amur, Sakhalin and the south of Kamchatka, have now become a small ethnic group. In Japan, according to official data, there are about 25 thousand Ainu, while in Russia there are just over a hundred of them.

The first mentions of the islands in Japanese sources date back to 1635, in Russian - 1644.

In 1711, a detachment of Kamchatka Cossacks under the leadership Danila Antsiferova and Ivan Kozyrevsky first landed on the northernmost island of Shumshu, defeating a detachment of local Ainu here.

The Japanese also showed more and more activity in the Kuril Islands, but there was no line of demarcation and no agreements between the countries.

Kuril Islands - you, Sakhalin— US

In 1855, the Shimoda Treaty on Trade and Borders between Russia and Japan was signed. This document first defined the border of the possessions of the two countries in the Kuril Islands - it passed between the islands of Iturup and Urup.

Thus, under the rule of the Japanese emperor were the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the group of islands Habomai, that is, the very territories around which there is a dispute today.

It was the day of the conclusion of the Shimoda Treaty, February 7, that was declared in Japan as the so-called "Day of the Northern Territories".

Relations between the two countries were good enough, but they were spoiled by the "Sakhalin issue". The fact is that the Japanese claimed the southern part of this island.

In 1875, a new treaty was signed in St. Petersburg, according to which Japan renounced all claims to Sakhalin in exchange for the Kuril Islands - both South and North.

Perhaps, it was after the conclusion of the 1875 treaty that relations between the two countries developed most harmoniously.

The exorbitant appetites of the Land of the Rising Sun

Harmony in international affairs, however, is fragile. Japan, which emerged from centuries of self-isolation, developed rapidly, and at the same time, its ambitions grew. The Land of the Rising Sun has territorial claims to almost all its neighbors, including Russia.

This resulted in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which ended in a humiliating defeat for Russia. And although Russian diplomacy managed to mitigate the consequences of the military failure, but, nevertheless, in accordance with the Portsmouth Treaty, Russia lost control not only over the Kuriles, but also over southern Sakhalin.

This state of affairs did not suit not only tsarist Russia, but also Soviet Union... However, it was impossible to change the situation in the mid-1920s, which resulted in the signing in 1925 of the Beijing Treaty between the USSR and Japan, according to which the Soviet Union recognized the current state of affairs, but refused to recognize "political responsibility" for the Portsmouth Treaty.

In subsequent years, relations between the Soviet Union and Japan hesitated to the brink of war. Japan's appetites grew and began to spread to the continental territories of the USSR. True, the Japanese defeats at Lake Khasan in 1938 and at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 forced official Tokyo to slow down somewhat.

However, the "Japanese threat" hung like a sword of Damocles over the USSR during the Great Patriotic War.

Revenge for old grudges

By 1945, the tone of Japanese politicians towards the USSR had changed. There was no talk of new territorial acquisitions - the Japanese side would be quite satisfied with the preservation of the existing order of things.

But the USSR made a commitment to Great Britain and the United States that it would enter the war with Japan no later than three months after the end of the war in Europe.

The Soviet leadership had no reason to feel sorry for Japan - Tokyo behaved too aggressively and defiantly towards the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s. And the grievances of the beginning of the century were not forgotten at all.

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. It was a real blitzkrieg - the millionth Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria was utterly defeated in a matter of days.

On August 18, Soviet troops began the Kuril landing operation, the purpose of which was to capture the Kuril Islands. Fierce battles unfolded for the island of Shumshu - this was the only battle of a fleeting war, in which the losses of Soviet troops were higher than those of the enemy. Nevertheless, on August 23, the commander of the Japanese troops in the Northern Kuriles, Lieutenant General Fusaki Tsutsumi, surrendered.

The fall of Shumshu became the key event of the Kuril operation - later the occupation of the islands, on which the Japanese garrisons were located, turned into the acceptance of their surrender.

They took the Kuriles, they could have taken Hokkaido

August 22, the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops on Far East marshal Alexander Vasilevsky, without waiting for the fall of Shumshu, gives the order to the troops to occupy the South Kuriles. The Soviet command is acting according to the plan - the war continues, the enemy did not surrender completely, which means that we should move on.

The initial military plans of the USSR were much broader - Soviet units were ready to land on the island of Hokkaido, which was to become the Soviet zone of occupation. How the further history of Japan would develop in this case is anyone's guess. But in the end, Vasilevsky received an order from Moscow - to cancel the landing operation in Hokkaido.

Bad weather somewhat delayed the actions of Soviet troops in the South Kuriles, but by September 1 Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan came under their control. The Habomai group of islands was completely taken under control on September 2-4, 1945, that is, after the surrender of Japan. There were no battles during this period - the Japanese soldiers resignedly surrendered.

So, at the end of World War II, Japan was completely occupied by the allied powers, and the main territories of the country fell under US control.

On January 29, 1946, by Memorandum No. 677 of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur, the Kuril Islands (Tishima Islands), the Habomai (Khabomadze) islands and Sikotan Island were excluded from the territory of Japan.

On February 2, 1946, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was formed in these territories as part of Khabarovsk Territory RSFSR, which on January 2, 1947 became part of the newly formed Sakhalin Oblast as part of the RSFSR.

Thus, de facto, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands passed to Russia.

Why the USSR did not sign a peace treaty with Japan

However, these territorial changes were not formally enshrined in a treaty between the two countries. And the political situation in the world has changed, and yesterday's ally of the USSR, the United States, turned into Japan's closest friend and ally, and therefore was not interested in either regulating Soviet-Japanese relations or resolving the territorial issue between the two countries.

In 1951, in San Francisco, a peace treaty was concluded between Japan and the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, which the USSR did not sign.

The reason for this was the revision by the United States of the previous agreements with the USSR, reached in the Yalta Agreement of 1945 - now official Washington believed that the Soviet Union had no rights not only to the Kuril Islands, but also to South Sakhalin. In any case, it was precisely such a resolution that was adopted by the US Senate during the negotiation of the treaty.

However, in the final version of the San Francisco Treaty, Japan relinquishes its rights to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. But here, too, the tricky part is that official Tokyo both then and now declares that it does not believe that Habomai, Kunashir, Iturup and Shikotan are part of the Kuril Islands.

That is, the Japanese are sure - they really renounced South Sakhalin, but they never renounced the "northern territories".

The Soviet Union refused to sign a peace treaty not only because its territorial disputes with Japan were unresolved, but also because it did not in any way resolve similar disputes between Japan and the then USSR ally, China.

Compromise ruined Washington

Only five years later, in 1956, the Soviet-Japanese declaration was signed to end the state of war, which was to become the prologue to the conclusion of a peace treaty.

A compromise solution was also voiced - the islands of Habomai and Shikotan will be returned to Japan in exchange for the unconditional recognition of the USSR's sovereignty over all other disputed territories. But this could happen only after the conclusion of a peace treaty.

In fact, Japan was quite satisfied with these conditions, but here the "third force" intervened in the matter. The United States was not at all happy about the prospect of improving relations between the USSR and Japan. The territorial problem was an excellent wedge driven between Moscow and Tokyo, and Washington considered its resolution to be extremely undesirable.

It was announced to the Japanese authorities that if a compromise was reached with the USSR on the "Kuril problem" on the terms of dividing the islands, the United States would leave Okinawa and the entire Ryukyu archipelago under its sovereignty.

The threat was truly terrible for the Japanese - it was about a territory with more than a million inhabitants, which has the most important historical meaning for Japan.

As a result, a possible compromise on the issue of the Southern Kuriles melted like smoke, and with it the prospect of a full-fledged peace treaty.

By the way, control over Okinawa finally passed to Japan only in 1972. At the same time, 18 percent of the island's territory is still occupied by American military bases.

Complete impasse

As such, there has been no progress in the territorial dispute since 1956. In the Soviet period, without reaching a compromise, the USSR came to the tactics of completely denying any dispute in principle.

In the post-Soviet period, Japan began to hope that Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who was generous with gifts, would give up the "northern territories." Moreover, such a decision was considered fair by very prominent figures in Russia - for example, the Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Perhaps at this point the Japanese side made a mistake, instead of compromise options like the one discussed in 1956, insisting on the transfer of all disputed islands.

But in Russia the pendulum has already gone the other way, and those who consider it impossible to transfer even one island, today sound much louder.

For both Japan and Russia, the "Kuril issue" over the past decades has become a matter of principle. For both Russian and Japanese politicians, the slightest concessions threaten, if not the collapse of a career, then the most serious electoral losses.

Therefore, Shinzo Abe's declared desire to solve the problem is undoubtedly laudable, but completely unrealistic.

ALL PHOTOS

The territorial dispute between Russia and Japan is based on the following islands: Great Kuril Ridge Kunashir - Kunashiri (Japanese name) Piko (Lovtsova) - Banton Iturup - Etorofu Swan Stone-Lion - Moekeshi Small Kuril Ridge Shikotan (Shpanberga

In Japan, the disputed islands are called "northern territories", and in Russia - "South Kuriles". They are part of the large archipelago of the Kuril Islands (Japanese name Chishima-retto) and represent a chain volcanic islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Hokkaido Island (Japan).

The islands separate the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. The length is about 1200 km. The area is about 15.6 thousand square meters. km. They consist of two parallel ridges of islands - Big Kuril and Malaya Kuril.

The total area of ​​all disputed islands is 5 thousand square meters. km.

The southernmost island of the Kuril ridge is perfectly visible from the northern tip of Japanese Hokkaido, even in rainy weather. Geographers are still arguing about the origin of the Kuriles. Russian experts consider them to be part of the Kamchatka shelf. The Japanese are confident that they are located offshore Hokkaido. A complete list of the disputed islands is provided at the end of the article.

About 4 thousand people live in Kunashir, 3 thousand in Shikotan, 8 thousand in Iturup. Habomai no civilian population - only Russian border guards. Their total number on the islands is about 5 thousand.

Kunashir- the southernmost island of the Kuril ridge. From here you can see the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Kunashir area is about 1550 sq. km. Height up to 1819 m. The island has active volcanoes(Tyatya, etc.) and hot springs, there is a geothermal power plant (GeoTES) with a capacity of 500 kW. The village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk (about 5500 people) and the Kurilskiy nature reserve are located on the island. Indigenous population- the Ainu. In the language of the Ainu, Kunashir means "black island".

Iturup- the largest island in terms of area (6725 sq. km). Volcanic massif (height up to 1634 m): Kudryavy volcano and others. Bamboo thickets, spruce-fir forests, elfin trees. The city of Kurilsk is located on Iturup (about 2700 people as of 1989). In the Ainu language, Iturup means "the best place".

Shikotan- most big Island in the Small Kuril ridge (182 sq. km). Settlements - Malokurilskoe and Krabozavodskoe. Fishing and hunting of marine animals are well developed.

Some experts argue that control over the islands, in principle, makes it possible to block sea routes from the Far East to the Pacific coast of the United States and seriously complicate the activities of any fleet in the region.

Economic geography: no money

The economic significance of the Kuril Islands is noticeably inferior to the strategic one. The budget of the USSR, and then of Russia, never had money for the development of these islands. Deposits of valuable and rare-earth metals located on Iturup have not even been explored yet. The production cost of these ores is so high that their development is economically senseless. Salmon is almost all the economic wealth of this region.

The main occupation of the inhabitants of the South Kuriles is fishing. Huge herds of salmon pass by these islands from the Pacific Ocean into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. In the autumn, during the spawning period, the fish also enter the local rivers. Crabs and seaweed are harvested off the coast of the Kuriles. According to some estimates, the extraction of marine fauna in this area can bring Russia about 4 billion dollars a year, but in reality it brings hardly a billion.

Fish processing plays a major role in the economy of the islands. The leading enterprise - ZAO Rybokombinat Ostrovnoy - is located in Shikotan (the largest enterprise in the industry in the Far East). ZAO Krabozavodsky is also located here. OOO Yuzhno-Kurilskiy Kombinat operates in Kunashir, and Kurilskiy fishery in Iturup.

At the same time, illegal export of seafood to Japan is in full swing: the Russians are poaching, and the Japanese are supplying illegal fishermen with equipment. According to the State Fisheries Committee, the total losses of the state from this business range from 700 million to 1 billion dollars a year.

You can get to Kunashir and Iturup by plane from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (regular flights four times a week). There is no air connection with Shikotan. The only way to get to the mainland is with a passing ship.

The territorial dispute between Russia and Japan is based on the following islands:

Great Kuril ridge Kunashiri - Kunashiri (Japanese name)
Pico (Lovtsova) - Banton
Iturup - Etorofu
Swan
Stone-Lion - Moekeshi
Small Kuril ridge Shikotan (Shpanberga) - Sikotan
flat group of islands - Habomai
o. Tanfilieva - Suisho
Yuri - Yuri
o. Anuchina - Akiyuri
Signal - Kaigara
Green - Shibotsu
o. Polonsky - Taraku

The Kuril Islands, which are part of the Sakhalin Region, consist of 56 large and small islands of volcanic origin. Stretching from north to south, from Kamchatka to the Japanese island of Hokkaido, these islands are of much more important geostrategic importance for Russia than it might seem at first glance.

Non-freezing straits

There are only two straits between the islands of the Kuril ridge, which do not freeze in the cold season. This is the Catherine Strait, located between the islands of Iturup and Kunashir, as well as the Frisa Strait between the islands of Iturup and Urup. If these southern islands belonged to another country, it is difficult to even imagine how transport connection between, for example, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Vladivostok in winter. In addition, one should not forget about the Russian navy in the Far East. Ships from Vladivostok in winter will not be able to go to the Pacific Ocean without the consent of third countries.

Mineral deposits

Despite their small size, the islands of the Kuril ridge contain significant amounts of explored minerals. Ores of non-ferrous metals, mercury were found here, and hydrocarbon deposits in the coastal zone. In addition, the richest rhenium mineral deposit in the world has been found on Iturup Island. Rhenium is contained here in the form of the mineral rhenite, the extraction of the metal from which is more promising than extraction by traditional methods. In addition, rhenium is a very rare metal with a number of unique properties, and therefore it is highly valued in the world market.

Status of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk

In 2014, one of the major events recently in the field of regulating the legal status of the shelf territories of Russia. UN Commission on the Continental Shelf recognized the Sea of ​​Okhotsk as an internal sea Russian Federation, and, accordingly, the rights to all Natural resources that this territory contains. These are not only the richest hydrocarbon deposits, but also biological resources- fish, crabs and other seafood. It is not difficult to guess that if at least part of the Kuril Islands belonged to another country, Russia would have to share this wealth with its neighbor.

Bioresource fishery

The coastal waters of the Kuril Islands are the richest reserves of Kamchatka crabs, salmon and many other valuable biological resources. Regular cases of poaching of foreign ships in the coastal waters of the archipelago speak volumes about the increased interest in this territory on the part of other countries.

Population of the Kuril Islands

Non-freezing straits and natural resources- this is certainly very important. But the main wealth of the Kuril Islands is the people who live here. According to 2017 data, more than 19 thousand people live on the territory of two cities and several villages. This is quite a lot, given the island specificity of the region and certain difficulties caused by transport accessibility. The islands are a special world, and the people who inhabit the Kuril Islands love their small homeland very much.

Since 1945, the authorities of Russia and Japan have not been able to sign a peace treaty due to a dispute over the ownership of the southern part of the Kuril Islands.

The Northern Territories Issue (北方 領土 問題 Hoppo: ryo: do Mondai) is a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia that Japan has considered unresolved since the end of World War II. After the war, all the Kuril Islands came under the administrative control of the USSR, however, a number of southern islands - Iturup, Kunashir and the Small Kuril Ridge - are disputed by Japan.

In Russia disputed territories are part of the Kuril and South Kuril urban districts of the Sakhalin region. Japan claims four islands in the southern part of the Kuril ridge - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, referring to the bilateral Treaty on Trade and Frontiers in 1855. Moscow's position is that the southern Kuriles became part of the USSR (of which Russia became the successor) according to the results of the Second World War, and Russian sovereignty over them, which has the appropriate international legal framework, is beyond doubt.

The problem of the ownership of the southern Kuril Islands is the main obstacle to a complete settlement of Russian-Japanese relations.

Iturup(Japanese 択 捉 島 Etorofu) is an island in the southern group of the Great ridge of the Kuril Islands, the most large island archipelago.

Kunashir(Ainu Black Island, Japanese 国 後 島 Kunashiri-to :) is the southernmost island of the Great ridge of the Kuril Islands.

Shikotan(Japanese 色 丹 島 Sikotan-to:?, in early sources Sikotan; name from the Ainu language: "shi" - large, significant; "kotan" - village, city) - the largest island of the Small ridge of the Kuril Islands.

Habomai(Japanese 歯 舞 群島 Habomai-gunto ?, Suisho, “Flat Islands”) is the Japanese name for a group of islands in the north-west of the Pacific Ocean, together with Shikotan Island in Soviet and Russian cartography considered as the Small Kuril Ridge. The Habomai group includes the islands of Polonsky, Oskolki, Zeleny, Tanfilyev, Yuri, Demina, Anuchin and a number of small ones. Separated from the island of Hokkaido by the Soviet Strait.

History of the Kuril Islands

17th century
Before the arrival of the Russians and Japanese, the islands were inhabited by the Ainu. In their language, "kuru" meant "a man who came from nowhere", which is where their second name "kurilians" came from, and then the name of the archipelago.

In Russia, the first mention of the Kuril Islands dates back to 1646, when N.I. Kolobov spoke about the bearded people inhabiting the islands ainakh.

The Japanese received the first information about the islands during an expedition [source not specified 238 days] to Hokkaido in 1635. It is not known whether she actually got to the Kuriles or learned about them indirectly, but in 1644 a map was drawn up, on which they were designated under the collective name "a thousand islands". Candidate of Geographical Sciences T. Adashova notes that the map of 1635 "is considered by many scientists to be very approximate and even incorrect." At the same time, in 1643, the islands were explored by the Dutch led by Martin Fries. This expedition amounted to more than detailed maps and described the lands.

XVIII century
In 1711, Ivan Kozyrevsky went to the Kuriles. He visited only 2 northern islands: Shumshu and Paramushire, - but he questioned in detail the Ainu and Japanese who inhabited them, brought there by the storm. In 1719, Peter I sent an expedition to Kamchatka under the leadership of Ivan Evreinov and Fyodor Luzhin, which reached the island of Simushir in the south.

In 1738-1739, Martyn Spanberg walked along the entire ridge, drawing the islands he encountered on the map. In the future, the Russians, avoiding dangerous voyages to southern islands, mastered the northern, taxed the local population with yasak. From those who did not want to pay it and went to distant islands, they took amanats - hostages from among close relatives. But soon, in 1766, the centurion Ivan Cherny was sent to the southern islands from Kamchatka. He was ordered to attract the Ainu citizenship without the use of violence and threats. However, he did not follow this decree, mocked them, poached. All this led to a revolt of the indigenous population in 1771, during which many Russians were killed.

The Siberian nobleman Antipov with the Irkutsk translator Shabalin achieved great success. They managed to win the favor of the Kuril people, and in 1778-1779 they managed to bring into citizenship more than 1,500 people from Iturup, Kunashira and even Matsumaya (now Japanese Hokkaido). In the same 1779, Catherine II, by decree, freed those who had taken Russian citizenship from all taxes. But relations with the Japanese were not built: they forbade the Russians to go to these three islands.

In the "Extensive Land Description of the Russian State ..." in 1787, a list of the 21st islands belonging to Russia was given. It included islands up to Matsumai (Hokkaido), the status of which was not clearly defined, since Japan had a city in its southern part. At the same time, the Russians did not have real control even over the islands south of Urup. There, the Japanese considered the smokers as their subjects, actively used violence against them, which caused discontent. In May 1788, a Japanese merchant ship that came to Matsumai was attacked. In 1799, by order of the central government of Japan, two outposts were founded on Kunashir and Iturup, and they began to be guarded constantly.

19th century
In 1805, Nikolai Rezanov, a representative of the Russian-American company, tried to resume negotiations on trade with Japan, who arrived in Nagasaki as the first Russian envoy. But he also failed. However, Japanese officials, who were not satisfied with the oppressive policy of the supreme power, made him understand with hints that it would be nice to hold a forceful action in these lands, which could knock the situation off the ground. This was done on behalf of Rezanov in 1806-1807 by an expedition of two ships led by Lieutenant Khvostov and Warrant Officer Davydov. Ships were plundered, a number of trading posts were destroyed, and a Japanese village was burned down on Iturup. They were later tried, but the attack for some time led to a serious deterioration in Russian-Japanese relations. In particular, this was the reason for the arrest of Vasily Golovnin's expedition.

In exchange for the right to own southern Sakhalin, Russia transferred all the Kuril Islands to Japan in 1875.

XX century
After defeat in 1905 in the Russo-Japanese War, Russia handed over the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan.
In February 1945, the Soviet Union promised the United States and Great Britain to start a war with Japan, subject to the return of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to it.
February 2, 1946. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the inclusion of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the RSFSR.
1947. Deportation of the Japanese and Ainu from the islands to Japan. 17,000 Japanese and an unknown number of Ainu were evicted.
November 5, 1952. A powerful tsunami struck the entire coast of the Kuriles, Paramushir suffered the most. A giant wave washed away the city of Severo-Kurilsk (formerly Kasivabara). It was forbidden to mention this catastrophe in the press.
In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan adopted a Joint Treaty, officially ending the war between the two states and transferring Habomai and Shikotan to Japan. However, they did not succeed in signing the agreement: the United States threatened not to surrender the island of Okinawa to Japan if Tokyo abandons its claims to Iturup and Kunashir.

Kuril Islands Maps

Kuril Islands on english map 1893 year. Plans of the Kuril Islands, from sketches chiefly mand by Mr. H. J. Snow, 1893. (London, Royal Geographical Society, 1897, 54 × 74 cm)

Map detail Japan and Korea - Location of Japan in the Western Pacific (1:30 000 000), 1945

Photomap of the Kuril Islands based on NASA satellite imagery, April 2010.

List of all islands

View of Habomai from Hokkaido
Green Island (志 発 島 Shibotsu-to)
Polonsky Island (Japanese 多 楽 島 Taraku-to)
Tanfiliev Island (水晶 島 Suisho-jima)
Yuri Island (Japanese 勇 留 島 Yuri-to)
Anuchin Island (秋 勇 留 島 Akiyuri-to)
Demina Islands (春 苅 島 Harukari-to)
Shards Islands
Kira rock
Cave Rock (Kanakuso) - on the rock a sea lion rookery.
Sail Rock (Hokoki)
Rock Candle (Rosoku)
Fox Islands (Todo)
Bump Islands (Kabuto)
Bank Dangerous
Watchtower Island (Homosiri or Muika)

Drying Rock (Odoke)
Reef Island (Amagi-sho)
Signal Island (貝殻 島 Kaigara-jima)
Rock Amazing (Hanare)
Seagull rock

In 2006, the Federal Target Program "Social and Economic Development of the Kuril Islands for 2007-2015" was adopted. The main goals of the program are to improve the living standards of the population, solve energy and transport problems, and develop fisheries and tourism. At the moment, the volume of the federal target program is 21 billion rubles. The total funding for this program (including budgetary and non-budgetary sources) is almost 28 billion rubles. In the coming years, the main funds will be directed to the creation and development of the system highways, airports and seaport points. The main attention will be paid to such objects as Iturup airport, sea terminal on Kunashir island, cargo-passenger complex in Kitovy bay on Iturup island, etc. According to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, including 3 kindergartens in Kunashir, a hospital with a polyclinic in Iturup, a hospital in Shikotan, as well as a number of housing and communal services facilities.

The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Japanese island of Hokkaido, separating the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. They are part of the Sakhalin Region. Their length is about 1200 km. Total area - 10.5 thousand sq. km. To the south of them lies the state border of the Russian Federation with Japan. The islands form two parallel ridges: the Big Kuril and the Small Kuril. Includes 30 large and many small islands. They are of great military-strategic and economic importance.

The territory of the North Kuril urban district includes the islands of the Great Kuril ridge: Atlasova, Shumshu, Paramushir, Antsiferova, Makanrushi, Onekotan, Harimkotan, Chirinkotan, Ekarma, Shiashkotan, Raikoke, Matua, Rasshua, Ushishir, Ketoy and all small islands. Administrative center- Severo-Kurilsk.

The South Kuril Islands include the Iturup, Kunashir islands / belong to the Great Kuril ridge /, Shikotan and the Habomai ridge / belong to the Lesser Kuril ridge /. Their total area is about 8.6 thousand square meters. km.

Iturup, located between the islands of Kunashir and Urup, is the largest island in the Kuril archipelago in terms of area. Area - 6725 sq. km. The population is about 6 thousand people. Administratively, Iturup is part of the Kuril urban district. The center is the city of Kurilsk. The fishing industry forms the basis of the island's economy. In 2006, the most powerful fish factory in Russia "Reidovo" was launched on the island, processing 400 tons of fish per day. Iturup is the only place in Russia where a rhenium metal deposit has been discovered; since 2006, gold deposits have been explored here. Burevestnik airport is located on the island. In 2007, within the framework of the Federal Target Program, the construction of a new international airport Iturup, which will become the main air harbor in the Kuril Islands. Currently, the runway is being assembled.

Kunashir is the southernmost of the Kuril Islands. Area - 1495.24 sq. km. The population is about 8 thousand people. Center - urban-type settlement Yuzhno-Kurilsk / population 6.6 thousand people /. It is part of the South Kuril urban district. The main industry is fish processing. The entire territory of the island is a border zone. Civil and military transportation on the island is carried out by Mendeleevo Airport. For several years, reconstruction was carried out there in order to improve the air traffic of Kunashir with the neighboring islands of the Kuril ridge, Sakhalin and other Russian regions. On May 3, 2012, a permit was obtained to put the airport into operation. The work was carried out in accordance with the Federal Target Program "Social and Economic Development of the Kuril Islands / Sakhalin Oblast / for 2007-2015." As a result of the project, the airfield was reconstructed to receive An-24 aircraft, and the airport's engineering support was brought up to the requirements of the OGEA and FAP standards.

On Iturup and Kunashir, the only large unit of the Russian Armed Forces on the islands of the Kuril ridge is stationed - the 18th machine-gun and artillery division.

On the islands of Kunashir and Iturup, under the influence of the Kuril volcanic zone, volcanoes of different sizes stretch. Countless rivers, waterfalls, hot springs, lakes, meadows and bamboo can be attractive for tourism development on the islands.

Shikotan is the largest island in the Small Range of the Kuril Islands. Area - 225 sq. km. Population - more than 2 thousand people. It is part of the South Kuril urban district. Administrative center - with. Malokurilskoe. There is a hydrophysical observatory on the island, fishing and hunting for marine animals are also developed here. Shikotan is partly located on the territory of the state nature reserve of federal significance "Small Kuriles". The island is separated by the South Kuril Strait from Kunashir Island.

Habomai is a group of islands that, together with Shikotan Island, forms the Small Kuril ridge... The Habomai include the islands of Polonsky, Oskolki, Zeleny, Tanfilyev, Yuri, Demina, Anuchin and a number of small ones. Area - 100 sq. km. It is part of the South Kuril urban district. The straits between the islands are shallow, filled with reefs and underwater rocks. There are no civilians on the islands - only Russian border guards.