The Journal of Foreign Policy

The Journal of Foreign Policy

Russian Realism and Curill Islands: Theory, History and Reality

Document Type : Research Paper

Abstract
Why Curill Islands are of great geostrategic importance for Russia? There has been a dispute over this area between Japan and the Soviet Union and then Russia for a long time. The Russian concerns and considerations toward this issue have been the same during the time of Tsars, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The evidences emphasize that the Russian Federation will not let this area to be separated from Russian mainland. So, the prospect for the end of this dispute is not so shiny. The only possibility is the withdrawal from two small islands of Hombai and Shitokan in return for big advantages for Russia. The present article studies the Russian policy toward this issue and the relations between geopolitics, theories, and the political action.