The Patriot Files Forums  

Go Back   The Patriot Files Forums > General > Military Weapons

Post New Thread  Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-27-2020, 10:43 AM
Boats's Avatar
Boats Boats is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sauk Village, IL
Posts: 21,785
Arrow Russia deploys S-300 missile systems to Kuril Islands

Russia deploys S-300 missile systems to Kuril Islands
By: UA Wire News - 10-27-20
Re: http://uawire.org/Contents/Item/Display/26986

Photo link: http://uawire.org/Media/Default/_Pro...60059087607798

As part of the exercise, the anti-aircraft missile unit of the Eastern Military District, equipped with the latest S-300V4 missile system, will be deployed to the Kuril Islands, announced the press service of the Eastern Military District.

"The anti-aircraft missile division of the Eastern Military District stationed in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast began the exercise to relocate one of its units over a long distance," the district's press service said.

As part of the exercise, the unit will be transported by rail and sea. After that, the unit will begin deployment on one of the islands of the Kuril ridge and practice countering an enemy’s subversive group.

According to the press service, the main goal of the exercise will be to train personnel to perform tasks on unfamiliar terrain in the island zone of the Eastern Military District.

Last September, Russia completed equipping the newly formed 38th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Eastern Military District with the S-300V4 anti-aircraft missile systems. The new military unit of the brigade is stationed in the village of Ptichnik, Birobidzhan region, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

In 2016, Russia announced that it would be deploying Bal and Bastion coastal missile in the Kuril Islands to ensure control of the waterways, which provide entry from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The islands’ air defense is currency ensured by Buk-M1 medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems and Su-35S fighters from the Eastern Military District.

During 2020, American strategic bombers B-1B and B-52H flew to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk several times through the Kuril straits, without violating Russian borders. They were escorted by Russian Su-35S fighters.

The dispute over the four Kuril Islands, which Tokyo considers its “northern territories,” complicates relations between Russia and Japan. Moscow claims that the islands became part of the Soviet Union following the Second World War and that Russian sovereignty over them is not subject to revision. Tokyo insists that the islands are Japanese territories.

Japan does not recognize Russia’s ownership of the Iturup, Kunashir and Habomai Islands. They were annexed by Russia during World War II. Russia and Japan still have not signed the peace treaty because of the sovereignty dispute over the Islands.

In November, 2018, after the meeting between Abe and Putin, Japan announced that it was ready to adhere to the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956. According to this Declaration, the USSR agreed to hand over the Habomai and Shikotan Islands to Japan after the peace treaty between the two countries is signed.

Kuril Islands, Japan, Russia

The Kuril Islands dispute, also known in Japan as the Northern Territories dispute, is a disagreement between Japan and Russia and also some individuals of the Ainu people over sovereignty of the four southernmost Kuril Islands. The Kuril Islands is a chain of islands that stretch between the Japanese island of Hokkaido at the southern end and the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula at the northern end. The islands separate the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. The four disputed islands, like other islands in the Kuril chain that are not in dispute, were annexed by the Soviet Union following the Kuril Islands landing operation at the end of World War II. The disputed islands are under Russian administration as the South Kuril District of the Sakhalin Oblast (Сахалинская область, Sakhalinskaya oblast). They are claimed by Japan, which refers to them as its Northern Territories or Southern Chishima, and considers them part of the Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture.

The islands in dispute are:

* Iturup (Russian: Итуруп)—Etorofu Island (Japanese: 択捉島, Etorofu-tō)

* Kunashir (Russian: Кунашир)—Kunashiri Island (Japanese: 国後島, Kunashiri-tō)

* Shikotan (Russian: Шикотан)—Shikotan Island (Japanese: 色丹島, Shikotan-tō)[1]
Habomai Islands (Russian: острова Хабомаи ostrova Khabomai)—

* Habomai Islands (Japanese: 歯舞群島, Habomai-guntō)[1]

The San Francisco Peace Treaty,[2] signed between the Allies and Japan in 1951, states that Japan must give up "all right, title and claim to the Kuril Islands",[3] but it also does not recognize the Soviet Union's sovereignty over them.[4] Japan claims that at least some of the disputed islands are not a part of the Kuril Islands, and thus are not covered by the treaty.[5] Russia maintains that the Soviet Union's sovereignty over the islands was recognized in post-war agreements.[6][7] Japan and the Soviet Union ended their formal state of war with the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, but did not resolve the territorial dispute. During talks leading to the joint declaration, the Soviet Union offered Japan the two smaller islands of Shikotan and the Habomai Islands in exchange for Japan renouncing all claims to the two bigger islands of Iturup and Kunashir, but Japan refused the offer after pressure from the US.

The first Russo-Japanese agreement to deal with the status of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands was the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda, which first established official relations between Russia and Japan. Article 2 of the Treaty of Shimoda, which provided for an agreement on borders, states "Henceforth the borders between Russia and Japan will pass between the islands Iturup (Etorofu) and Urup (Uruppu). The whole island of Iturup belongs to Japan and the whole island Urup and the other Kuril Islands to the north constitute possessions of Russia". The islands of Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands, that all lie to the south of Iturup, are not explicitly mentioned in the treaty and were understood at the time to be a non-disputed part of Japan. The treaty also specified that the island of Sakhalin/Karafuto would remain un-partitioned between Russia and Japan, as in the past.[8]

In the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg Russia and Japan agreed that Japan would give up all rights to Sakhalin in exchange for Russia giving up all rights to the Kuril Islands in favor of Japan. However, a controversy remains as to what constitutes the Kuril islands, due to translation discrepancies of the French official text of that treaty.[9]

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 was a military disaster for Russia.[10][11] The 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth, concluded at the end of this war, gave the southern half of Sakhalin Island to Japan.

Although Japan occupied parts of Russia's Far East during the Russian Civil War following the October Revolution, Japan did not formally annex any of these territories and they were vacated by Japan by the mid-1920s.

After the Battles of Khalkhin Gol ended the Japanese–Soviet Border War in 1939 and before the USSR declared war on Japan (Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation) on August 8, 1945, there was practically no hostile activity between the USSR and the Empire of Japan. Although Japan was a main ally of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, with which USSR was at war. Millions of Soviet and Japanese soldiers were facing each other along the border. The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed in Moscow on April 13, 1941 and became effective on April 25, but was renounced by the Soviet Union on 5 April 1945, as in accordance with the Pact itself, it remains relevant for 5 years and automatically renews for the next 5 years if any of the countries does not renounce the Pact a year before the date of its expiry. So, the USSR used its legal right and renounced the Pact[dubious – discuss].

Second Sino-Japanese War became a part of World War II when Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor then invaded other Asians countries. Second Sino-Japanese War was an illegal act of aggression against China. On August 14, 1945, Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration and on the following day announced unconditional capitulation. During war crimes trial, many Japanese leaders were convicted and executed.

The Soviet operation to occupy the Kuril Islands took place between August 18 and September 3. Japanese inhabitants were repatriated two years later.[12] The United States had helped the preparation of the Soviet invasion through Project Hula, transferring naval vessels to the Soviet Union.

Challenges

Interests of both parties

The meeting between the leaders of two countries that took place on 5 May 2016 in Moscow was expected to make progress in the resolution of a prolonged territorial disputes. However, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and Russian president Vladimir Putin focused on the "current state and the prospects of development of bilateral cooperation in trade and economy as well as in the humanitarian field".[79][80] Close to the end of May, Sergey Shoygu, the Russian Defence Minister, announced that Russia is ready to protect the islands against the alien airplanes flying over the islands by positioning defence system along the main islands.[81] Furthermore, on 8 June 2015, there was an order from the Defence Minister to hurry up with the construction of military facilities on Iturup and Kunashir islands.[82] This news generated a wave of Japanese dissatisfaction. Although Japan objected to the actions of Russia, the latter did not show any signs for changing its plans.[81] On November 19, 2018, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that upcoming talks about resolving a dispute with Japan over a group of islands claimed by Tokyo would not necessarily result in Russia relinquishing them.[83]

Political and strategic issues

A Japanese online resource[84] reports that military infrastructure that is springing up in the Kuril Islands is believed to be part of the future plan of "North Sea Route", a sea route between the Kara Sea in the Arctic and the Pacific Ocean. The source believes that the route might be in hand to Russia since its power in the Pacific has been weakened for the last several decades.[84][81] Moreover, the transfer of Kuril to Japan would escalate territorial disputes Russia has with other countries.[85]
__________________
Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
sendpm.gif Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

All times are GMT -7. The time now is 08:54 AM.


Powered by vBulletin, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.