Russia builds barracks on disputed islands near Japan, drawing protests from Tokyo

Russia says it has built a new barracks for troops on a disputed chain of islands near Japan and vowed to build more facilities for armoured vehicles, prompting a diplomatic protest from Tokyo.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday it planned to shift troops next week into four housing complexes on two of the four disputed islands, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

Japan’s defence ministry says 3,500 Russian troops are deployed on the two larger islands as part of a military buildup.

In Tokyo, Japan’s foreign minister Taro Kono said his country would lodge a protest.

“We plan to lodge a protest,” Mr Kono told reporters, adding that Japan would clearly state its position during negotiations. “The premise of the upcoming negotiations is solving the island issue and concluding a peace treaty."

In July, Japan said it had asked Russia to reduce its military activity on the islands, a plea Moscow dismissed at the time as unhelpful megaphone diplomacy.

Soviet forces seized the four islands at the end of World War Two. Russia and Japan both claim sovereignty over them.

It comes after the Kremlin said Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe might visit Russia on 21 January, as the two countries step up efforts to defuse the territorial dispute, which has prevented them from signing a Second World War peace treaty.

Diplomats on both sides have spoken of the possibility of reviving a Soviet-era draft agreement that envisaged returning two of the four islands as part of a peace deal.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and Mr Abe have held numerous meetings to try to make progress on the issue.

Japan says it is concerned by what it regards as an unhelpful Russian military build-up on the islands – which has included warplanes, missile defences and other deployments.

Meanwhile Russia says it is perturbed by Japan’s roll-out of the Aegis Ashore US missile system, part of Japan’s defence plans to counter China, North Korea and Russia.

Russian politicians say they fear Japan might agree to deploy US missile facilities on the islands if any are returned to Tokyo, and Moscow could only countenance a deal if it received a guarantee that ruled out such a scenario.

In the meantime, Moscow is fortifying the islands.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday it wanted troops and their families to move on 25 December into two new housing sites on the island of Iturup (Etorofu in Japan), and into two other complexes on the island of Kunashir (Kunashiri in Japan).

Troops moved into two similar facilities last year and three more barracks are planned for 2019, the ministry said.

“Also on both islands we have modern and heated storage facilities for weapons and armoured vehicles,” the ministry said in a statement, adding more such facilities were planned.

Additional reporting by Reuters