Japan has described the Kuril Islands as being under Russia’s “illegal occupation”

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Japan recently described the Kuril Islands (which Japan calls the Northern Territory and Russia calls the South Kurils) as an "illegal occupation" of Russia.

• This is the first time in nearly two decades that Japan has used the phrase in relation to the dispute over the Kuril Islands.

• About Kuril Islands/ Northern Territories

• These are a group of four islands located between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, north of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost prefecture.

• Both Moscow and Tokyo claim sovereignty over it, although the islands have been under Russian control since the end of World War II.

• The islands were occupied by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.

• Tokyo claims that these disputed islands have been part of Japan since the early 19th century.

• The reason behind the dispute

• Japan's sovereignty over the islands is confirmed by a number of treaties since 1855.

• Russia, on the other hand, claims the Yalta Agreement (1945) and the Potsdam Declaration (1945) as proof of its sovereignty.

• It argues that the 1951 San Francisco Treaty is legal evidence that Japan acknowledged Russian sovereignty over the islands.

• Under Article 2 of the treaty, Japan had "renounced all rights, entitlements and claims to the Kuril Islands."

• However, Japan argues that the San Francisco Treaty cannot be used here because the Soviet Union never signed a peace treaty.

• In fact, Japan and Russia are technically still at war because they haven't signed a peace treaty since World War II.