[Tintin Storm]

The Kuriles are a ridge of 56 islands stretching 1,200 km from the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula to the Japanese island of Hokkaido in the Pacific Ocean. Most of them are uninhabited and rocky land areas in the ocean. Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, claimed by Japan, calling them their “northern territories”, are the largest and most important in strategic terms. Their territorial location allows Russia to consider the Sea of Okhotsk to be its internal waters. Today, one can enter the Sea of Okhotsk only with the permission of the Russian Border Force.
There are two straits between the islands of the Kuril ridge, which do not freeze during the cold season. This is the Catherine Strait, located between the islands of Iturup and Kunashir, and the Strait of Fries between the islands of Iturup and Urup. If Russia gives these southern islands to another country, it is difficult to even imagine how to carry out transport links between, for example, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Vladivostok in winter. In addition, do not forget about the navy of Russia in the Far East. Ships from Vladivostok will not be able to go into the Pacific Ocean in winter without coordination with third countries. Russian submarines will not be able to move freely in the Sea of Okhotsk and submergedly go out into the ocean.
The world's largest deposit of rhenium (a rare and expensive metal used in rocket and aircraft engines) is located on the island of Iturup. Fisheries are developed in the Kuriles, which constitute the main economy of the islands; today, fish processing enterprises are also being established in the “potentially Japanese” Shikotan, where the USSR’s largest cannery used to be.
If Russia gives at least one of these islands, then access to the richest sea food waters will become a thoroughfare yard, where everyone can freely enter. If the US Navy and Japan’s self-defense forces equipped with missile weapons appear in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia will have to exert all its forces to increase the defense capability of the Far East.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised Russian President Vladimir Putin not to deploy American bases in the Kuril Islands, apparently forgetting about the security agreement with the United States. It is worth recalling that the first American X-band radar operating in Aomori prefecture since 2006 is capable of spying not only for the opposite Chinese shores, but also for the Russian Vladivostok, and even more. Naturally, Americans will not miss the opportunity to move their stations closer to the borders of Russia. Now there are 91 US military facilities located on the Japanese islands and they will deploy several new ones in the Kuriles more readily.
Thus, there will be no question of the transfer of the islands as long as the US military bases are stationed in Japan. Japan does not currently have complete sovereignty. It is an occupied country following the Second World War and all decisions are made for it in Washington.
As for the signing of a peace treaty, Japan is more interested in this than Russia (its absence does not allow Japan to become a full member of the world community and various international organizations). Therefore, if Tokyo wants to sign this agreement, they should do it only on condition of recognition of the Russia's territorial integrity.