Sure, Japan claims those islands but saw nothing wrong in recognizing Kosovo as an independent state although that land always belonged to Serbia and was under UN administration after being ethnically cleansed of Serbians. They should be lucky not to lose few more islands if the continue serving another master this time.

Russia can deny Soviet era aggression as much as it likes, but this will not change anything at all about what Soviet Russia did to its neighbours, including to Japan.Nor will it improve Russia's relations with them. Russia may be the largest country in the world, but no country is so large that life would not be better for it if were surrounded by friendly neighbours as opposed to outraged and aggrieved ones.

@Marzipan "you" the neighbouring countries have ALWAYS started the trouble .... you've got what you deserve ...so don't cry now .. it's your own fault.

Alex we know - it was Poland which attacked USSR in 1939 :)

@from Poland ... your country politicians were naively bragging about how they would "take care" of Germany and Russia. That time Russia has attacked out of precaution (Katyn). Oh and besides Poland was always the agressor before the 1939... for centuries... why don't you think about that .

Its just lucky Japan are dealing with civilised Russia, if it was the US, they would have had a couple more nukes on their heads, but hey, the Japanese politicians on the gravy train, would have been OK with that! A few burn't and charred Japanese, for a another semiconductor deal, deal done! time for the sushi bar!

Would like to recommend a book to read, its called Mila 18 by Leon Uris, Its all about the Warsaw ghetto. Its fiction but based on eye witness reports. The writer is a Polish Jew moved to the states. What hits me is how people only remember what was done to them and never what they did to others. Back to topic, Everyone consigned had accepted that Kaliningrad is now Russia, its time Japan learns to deal with it too. Do not fight a war if you cant stomach your own territory been seized.

Japan was clearly an aggressor during the WWII, and for years before that, as it constantly have been keeping between 1.5 and 3 million soldiers there in the close proximity of Russian far east border. As a counter measure, Stalin was forced to have there 2-2.5 million troupes on a permanent basis throughout the whole WWII. Now, that was basically an act of aggression of Japan against Russia (ex SSSR) as these military troops Stalin could have used very effectively against Germans had it not been these massive Japanese forces there (let alone the fact the Jap forces were already on a conquered territory - from 1930 onwards). Therefore, Russia's "aggression" against Japan in 1945 was quite legitimate an act. In addition to that, Japan's recognition of Kosovo independence is substantially a (self) lethal move for any Japanese future demands as to the islands mentioned. Japan should learn the lesson about its behavior prior and during WWII, and about participating in faked Kosovo independence, and there is a price that is to be paid for that!! The islands will never be given to Japan whatever declarations the Jap parliament makes.

The Japs seem to forget that they conquered Russian territory during a series of wars in the late 19th century. It is only reasonable that Russia will seek to reclaim lost territory (and a bit more besides as belated compensation) once the opportunity arose. Japan can shut up and accept the permanent loss of minor territories. It is small payment indeed for the atrocites that Imperial Japan committed in WWII. P.S How typical that our resident Russophobes like From Poland and Marzipan6 use this article as yet another boring attempt to peddle their own brand of falsified anti-Russian revionist "history".

Gazza - well said! Accurate in every detail

This is just the political games between two nations. If Russia to push the development in Siberia and Far East regions, they need corporation with the three nations in Far East Asia; Japan, China, and Korea. There already exist the trading of the raw material among the three. But if there only trading business, the regional business in the service sector does not improve. So, now Moskow needs technology to industrialize the nation especially in the East; car modernization, IT, up-to-date Nuclear power plant technology and nanotech are the large interests for Moskow. In the end, it is Russia needs Japan, not Japan needs Russia. So, Japan is asking something in return. And if the talk failed, Japan lose less than Russia.

In case you haven't noticed, Japan is still occupied by the United States. Back in 1956 the Soviet Union/Russia stated that it was willing to hand over the two southern islands, Shikotan and Habomai, in exchange for a formal peace treaty. Japan would have accepted the deal had it not been pressured by the United States not to do so. Take the United States out of Japan and this would be a non issue. Japan would gain much more from signing a formal peace treaty and expanding trade with Russia than it ever would holding out for all four islands instead of just the two southern ones. The only country that benefits from the whole territorial dispute is the United States. It's the same reason there are US missiles popping up in Poland and the Czech Republic is being pressured to build a US radar base. Just this week Kyrgyzstan, after being pressured by the United States, agreed to keep the U.S. air base open even though it received $20B from Russia to shut it down.

What is falsified Gazza? This is the truth - not like on those soviet history books that USSR and now Russia tries to indoctrinate world with . Alex - attack from precaution? That makes ANY war justified because it is "from precaution" - this is silly! And actually US is not pushing Poland to have bases on its territory (US actually wants to pull out from this) - Poland wants to have US troops, US bases and AMD to be protected from Russia - from 1990 Poland is threatened and intimidated by Russia on every possible occasion.

War out of precaution .. is the iraq war and maybe soon to be north korea and iran war ... and Poland sends it's forces everywhere US tells to... so looks like Poland is still silly. Poland and other baltic states(ordered by US) are trying to agitate Russia on every occasion ... as much as possible ... and when they do get a reaction from Russia they start to scream for help like a 5 year old kids that just got smacked on their bottom. Us doesn't want to have any bases and AMD's on Polish territory ???? ... And Poland makes them to ... so Poland is the Boss now ... :D

"from Poland", your countrymen have a long history of blaming either Germany or Russia for your problems. The source of Polish angst is that the much-maligned Communist period was a case of the Polish repressing the Polish, not the Soviets. Communism as a political/economic system may have been imposed by the WWII victory, but its implementation and particular local characteristics were Polish in origin, ie the Soviets didn't rule Poland, the Poles did, but the Polish would much rather blame someone else rather than take responsibility for their own conduct. Truth hurts, but its still a fact. Also do you seriously think that the Bush Regime didn't push hard for the Polish/Czech ABM bases? If you deny that, you lose all credibility. On another thread, I hold Poland equally responsible with Germany for igniting WWII - anyone remember the massacres of the Danzig corridor, or this another inconvenient fact that the Russophobes have dumped down the memory hole? Did the Poles really expect Hitler and his Nationalist Socialists to sit quietly by while they murdered over 50,000 German nationals? Even if Hitler didn't have his eye to the East, they forced his hand and condemned Europe to catastrophy.

"Gazza" stated that Japan was imperialistic during the late 19 century... So was Russia (along with many european states and the US)! Sure, the japanese soldiers were brainwashed to do a lot of horrible things to the chinese, but Russia was also imperialistic. China was invaded by more or less every big player in the industrial revolution. I do however not have an opinion about the Kuril Islands, but I don't get what BIG Russia wants with these small islands:) The important thing here, only judging by googling the area, is to allow civilian ships from both countries to easily pass their shipment trough. Either by splitting up the territory, making it international or by some other agreement. There are no good or bad sides in this world, just consequences.

Since when the "losing" side makes demands after a war? Japan lost in WW II, so they shouldn't be making any claims. What's next? they're going to start claiming the islands they lost to the US? Japanese people are funny!

Oscar, I would be fascinated to know what islands Japan lost to the US that it hasn't long-since re-gained already? I also wonder why you feel that an internal parliamentary procedure in Japan equates to a "claim" against Russia? Has the Russian ambassador been called in to the Japanese foreign ministry and been given a note, or has some formal document of demand been delivered to the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow, or what? When the Japanese parliament discusses Japanese territory, that would not seem to be anything remarkable.

I can`t see any possibility for Poland and especially Baltics to agitate Russia - just how we could do that? How Poland which has small weak army and doesn`t have US troops nor nuclear weapons could agitate Russia, and Germany which has both plus powerful army doesn`t? Aren`t You a bit paranoid, do You think Russia is that weak? Actually it is Russia which agitates Poland - I remember threats of nuclear attack when entering NATO and EU, airspace incursions from Kaliningrad, gas and fuel blackmail - this is happening all the time. If US would like to have those bases in Poland they would be there already - why they are not here yet? Gazza - please check from where came first leaders of Polish People Republic - You will be suprised. And did You expect that communism won`t be executed when there were millions of Red Army soldiers, complete with KGB and NKVD operatives on polish territory? Poles in their own country would not lift a finger if Moscow didn`t say so - this is how much Poles ruled in Poland, and how much polish communist leadership was polish. Bush is not US president now - it is Obama, and his policies are completely different. Please state any credible source about Danzig massacres - I am sure You won`t find any. This is simply because this was a provocation orchestrated by Germany - the same as Glewitz (Gliwice) attack. It just didn`t happen at all.