Russia Deploys Missile Defense System to Kuril Island Near Japan

Russia deployed several Bastion mobile coastal defense missile mechanisms to Paramushir Island on Monday (5/12).

The mechanism can fire missiles with flight achievements of up to 500 km. The Russian Ministry of Defense helped build a military camp on Paramushir Island.

This facility provides facilities, tours, food, and other services for several personnel during the year.

"Pacific Fleet coastal soldiers will continue to stand guard during the time to regulate the water areas and strait zones side by side," explained the Russian Ministry of Defense, taken from Reuters, Tuesday (6/12).

Administratively, Paramushir Island as a side of the Severo-Kurilsky Area, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia.

Paramushir Island is counted in the Kuril Islands chain that lies between Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia.

This disputed archipelago is known as the Chishima Islands in Japan. Tokyo controlled the area in 1875 on the condition that it must give Sakhalin Island to Russia.

Russia subsequently regained the Kuril Islands after World War II. However, Japan claims four islands in the southernmost area of the Kuril Islands which is said to be the Northern Territory.

The 4 islands include two of the 3 largest islands, namely Iturup and Kunashir, and Shikotan and Habomai Islands.

The mobilization of missile defense mechanisms to this area occurred one year after Russia placed the Bastion mechanism also on Matua Island which is on the central side of the Kuril Islands hill.

The chairman of Japan's Cabinet Secretariat, Hirokazu Matsuno, explained that his government would oversee Russian military activities.

He underscored that this military activity has increased in the far east to coincide with Russian aggression into Ukraine since February 24.

Washington-based think tank Center for Tactics and International Studies believes that Russia's militarization of the Kuril Islands is unidentified because it is overshadowed by the war in Ukraine.

"Russia's few moves to increase its presence show that some of the islands will continue to play a devastating role in the future of the Russian-Japanese fabric," noted the report published in September.

"And if Japan and the United States have to deepen discussions regarding Russian activities in the territory," he said.

Japan has joined its Western allies in applying economic threats to Russia.

In retaliation, the Kremlin eventually withdrew from peace deal talks with Japan. His faction co-suspended several joint economic projects related to the Kuril Islands.