In the Kurils, uninhabited islands named for Soviet leaders

By Vladimir V. Sytin
The Ukrainian Times

Recently, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed an edict that uninhabited islands in the Kurils should be named for Soviet military leaders. For instance, one of the islands bears the name of Lieutenant-General Kuzma Derevyanko who initialed the instrument of Japan’s unconditional surrender in 1945. Another island in the Southern Kurils is named for Andrei Gromyko, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Strange as it may seem, Tokyo has expressed a protest against the above document. It should be mentioned that Japan is still in a de jure state of war with Russia because of the Kurils problem.

Readers of The Ukrainian Times know that the Southern Kurils are the integral part of Russia’s territory on a legal basis in accordance with the results of World War II. Japan, which was the ally of Nazi Germany during WWII, shall strictly respect relevant accords and the U.N. Charter. Like Germany, Japan must bear responsibility for war crimes not only towards Russia but all former Soviet republics, the anti-Hitlerite coalition and China in particular.

Finally, it is worth remembering that the Kurils were originally settled by the Russians in the 17th-18th centuries. Japan seized the southern islands and in 1875 obtained the entire chain. After WWII they were legally ceded to the Soviet Union, and the Japanese population was repatriated.

And so, did Japan not learn any lessons from its criminal alliance with Nazi Germany?