The islands are ours. We won them in the war began by Japanese. At that time Japanese were evil occupying Asia. Russia saved many other Asian counties from the evil at cost of many Russian lives. Hiroshi Tokuno, 73, who remembers the invasion of his island has completely forgotten what their army did with Koreans on Sakhalin, what their Army did in Russian Far East etc. Very selective memory.

Vyacheslav, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia

Russia is no stranger to occupation. In 1991, Estonia gained their independence from Russia and thousands of people revolted to gain their freedom. I recently came across a website about Estonia’s Singing Revolution – http://singingrevolution.com.

Tanvir, NYC, U.S/NY

D. Petroff, well said. Until there is at least 1 US trooper in Japan, there will be no talks about returning even two islands.
Moreover, there cannot be any talks about returning islands until Japan think that Japanese were discoverers of the islands. The first people of the islands were Ainy.
Yes, these islands belonged to Japan once. In 1875 there was a pact between Russia and Japan. These islands were given to Japan, on the other side Japan agreed that island Sahalin was russian.
But after Russian-Japan war in 1904-05 and in the times of Russian Civil War in 1920-25 years Japan occupied Sahalin. When they were asked to return it or Kuril Islands Japan answered that "The war cancels all treaties (agreements, pacts). You have lost...". Japan didn't gave the Islands to us. In 1945 we have returned what was ours. And now we say: "You lost. The islands are ours".
I will add: Japan is occupied by USA. Before talking about problem with Islands, Japan should become a free country.

Artem, Barnaul, Russian Federation

Does today's Japan show any remorse for its role in WWII?

No. Japan is hyping the threat of North Korea and China, pushing for the development of missile defense with US, and white-washing its history textbooks.

If Russia would ever give up these islands, they should be given to China, not to Japan. as compensation for Japanese atrocities committed during the WWII.

Geo, San Francisco, USA

Fyi, at Yalta, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill agreed as per wiki:

The Soviet Union would enter the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany. The Soviet Union would receive the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kurile islands after the defeat of Japan.

&&&&

Additionally, Murph, it can be argued that the UK and US did not enter the war in Europe until the Soviets guaranteed victory for the Allies (at the sacrificial loss of 25+ million Soviets). The old adage is that the United States deliberately let Russia and Germany to fight each other to the death.

constantina, astoria, ny

To Murph of Madisonville.

Murph, you got it all wrong. Those were Americans who were dragging their feet with starting war with Germans in Europe. Americans only opened 2nd front when the outcome between USSR and Germany was clear; they scooped half of the Europe at the expense of Russians (still keeping their occupational troops in Germany, btw). On the contrary, Russians entered war with Japan in strict accordance with Yalta agreements. Notice also that they liberated more territories during one month than Americans managed to do during 5 years. Truman’s position only underlines his complete amorality once again.

Japan should forget about Kuriles, that's Russian territories. The most Japanese can ask for is for entry without visas there (naturally, in exchange for the same right for Russians entering Hokkaido).

Zhorka, Los Angeles/Vladivostok, USA/Russia

Resolution of this dispute has nothing to do with the trade with Japan. Japan is a US-dominated client state without independent
foreign policy, which is also a home to large number of American troops. As soon as Russian gives up these islands, the first thing Japanese do is to invite americans to build their missile bases there, further destabilising the whole region and threatening Russia. And we do not want this to happen.

D. Petroff, St Petersburg, Russia

To George of London. I think Hiroshima and Nagasaki are all the reminders Japan needs about past and any future aggression.

The Russians refused to enter the fray with Japan until the very last days of the war. Then in the chaos that existed during the surrender they scooped these islands up. If memory serves me right I believe both Truman and MacArthur refused Russian presence at the surrender ceremony. Or if they were in attendance it was begrudgingly allowed.

Murph, Madisonville , USA/KY

After what the Japanese Imperial Army did in China and other parts of Asia in the thirties to 1945, congralulations to the Russians for taking these little islands. If only to remind the future Japanese that aggression does NOT PAY.

george, london, uk

Russia entered the war against Japan just before the Japanese surrender and just in time to grab some land. Russian politicians and business men are mostly from the shadowy criminal groups that emerged after 1991. Thye don't understand the word negotiate - to them it means weakness.
Lets face it - you can't push Putin around - he is inviolate in Russia provided he continues to play the aggressive strong man role.
All Japan can do is either use their claim as a lever to open business doors in Moscow or soak the Islanders for every dollar they can squeeze out of them.(and it will be dollars not roubles the Russians will be spending).
There is no point in alienating Russia over this issue, we are going to need their help in a few years time to deal with the Chinese.

Riley, Kyiv, Ukraine

The Japanese have no rights for the islands. The Kuril islands were settled and colonized first by Russians, not by Japanese. They were always Russian, except for Japanese occupation in 1905-1945 between the wars. And Japanese signed the refusal of these islands after the IIWW. That`s why they should just relax. Don`t they want to claim our Far East just because they briefly occupied it during our Civil war?

Russian Rocket, Moscow, Russia