Russia is holding missile practice in the vicinity of the southern Kuril Islands as tensions with Japan escalate. Russia’s tensions with Japan are heating up with missile practice near the southern Kuril Islands.
The Russian Pacific Fleet recently launched all-round missile attacks on mock-ups of enemy ships in the waters off the Southern Kuril Islands. The mock-up exercises included a Bastion coastal defense system, a nuclear-powered submarine Omsk and a guided missile cruiser Varyag.
The military drills come at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries. Tensions escalated when on August 13, the Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup, the first time the leader of the Russian Federation visited the disputed islands as head of state. The Russian President’s office said it took into account the fact that the territories have become part of it for a long time as a result of World War II.
Diplomatic Fallout and Growing Regional Isolation
Tokyo immediately protested about the visit, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation sent for the Japanese envoy. Russian officials rejected categorically Tokyo’s objections, saying that any comments challenging the president’s right to visit sovereign Russian territory were “entirely unacceptable.
These territorial conflicts are a sign of a much wider geopolitical change, according to regional experts. Tokyo has been pretty close to following the U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific region under this Prime Minister of Japan Sanae Takaichi. The hardline strategy has the effect of creating an ever growing sense of threat from neighbouring countries and strengthening ties with other countries such as Australia and the Philippines.
Such aggressive foreign policy is quickly pushing Japan into isolation in Northeast Asia. On August 15, which is the 81st anniversary of the World War II surrender of Japan, the Takaichi administration received much criticism from its neighboring countries. The Prime Minister made a token gesture at the infamous shrine of Yasukuni, and a Japanese defence ministry official went there, leading to harsh criticism from China and South Korea.
At the same time, Japan is dealing with new tension with Seoul over the issue of territorial disputes. The Republic of Korea’s MOFA officially protested against Japan’s ongoing assertion of sovereignty over the Dokdo islets, known as Takeshima in Japan.
The South Korean side called for a “prompt retraction” of these claims, which were prominently mentioned in the defense white paper of Japan’s Ministry of Defense for 2026. The ongoing buildup of Japanese troops and the country’s aggressive regional diplomacy could be a recipe for further bloc confrontation and raising the alert level for the whole region, analysts warn.
