In November, at the meeting of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Singapore Summit, the issue of the transfer of Japan to Habomai and Shikotan islands was again raised.

Talk about the southern islands go long. But in 2016, at the meeting of the secretaries of the security councils of Russia and Japan, Nikolai Patrushev and Setaro Yati, the question was raised about the possible deployment of American bases on the islands. After all, there is a Japanese-American security treaty, according to which the United States has the right to deploy its military bases throughout the country, without particularly coordinating this issue with Japan.. And in Singapore, as part of the negotiations on the signing of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan (it has not yet been signed), the question of the islands came up again - if the Russian Federation cedes these islands, then there will be no American bases on them. In general, the islands of Habomai, Shikotan, Iturup and Kunashir are considered by Japan to be part of the Hokkaido prefecture, and their transfer to Japan is considered the main condition for concluding a peace treaty.

Meanwhile, we all know what the promises of politicians are worth.. Today, Shinzo Abe promises, and tomorrow, Japan will be at the head of anyone, and Japan, loyal to the allied duty, will allow the US to deploy bases on these islands. Only 30 years ago, when the two Germanies were united, US President George Bush Sr. during the summit in Malta in December 1989, US Secretary of State James Baker in February 1990 during negotiations with Gorbachev, German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher in January 1990 In his speech in Bavaria, Federal Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl, French President Francois Mitterrand, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and NATO Secretary General Manfred Werner all promised Gorbachev NATO non-proliferation to the east. Everything that happened after the unification of Germany showed that the words of politicians cost nothing. The US bases are “propping up” the eastern borders of the Russian Federation, the NATO countries' aircraft allow themselves not only to fly along the borders of the Russian Federation, but also “mistakenly” to go deep into the airspace of our country. At the same time, the current politicians of these countries and the NATO leadership tirelessly reiterate the aggressiveness of the Russian Federation.

Why do we need these islands of Russia, if we and the territory of Siberia and the Far East is not being mastered very actively? Given the constant anti-Russian rhetoric of the Baltic countries, the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West, had to abandon the ports and fish products of neighbors. And now, fish products at a growing pace come mainly from the Far East.. As long as the Kuril Islands belong to the Russian Federation, the Sea of ??Okhotsk remains Russia's inland sea with the political and economic consequences resulting from it..

The islands are certainly exotic, there is practically no winter, so there is a reason to develop tourism. There are many asleep and active volcanoes. And the only obstacle is their remoteness from the main densely populated part of Russia.. Fish resources of the Sea of ??Okhotsk are also considerable wealth.

But few people know that there are real riches on these islands - there you can extract minerals that are nowhere else in the Russian Federation - rhenium, bismuth, indium, germanium, selenium. There is also a large deposit of native sulfur..

Finally, the islands withdrew to Russia after the Second World War, in which Japan was an ally of Nazi Germany.. The islands have become a kind of prize at the end of the war..

Joining the Kuriles to Russia recognized the Potsdam Peace Conference. Under the minutes of the conference is the signature of Japan, which in Tokyo prefer not to remember. However, no one requires the United States to return the states of California and Texas to Mexico.. They were simply pressed by these "bearers of democracy". England does not return the fortress of Gibraltar of Spain. France does not return to Germany the departments of Alsace and Lorraine. The return of the islands will be an act of political weakness.