Russia takes air defence systems from the Kuril Islands for the war in Ukraine
The Russian Federation has removed air defence missile systems from the Kuril Islands, which had been there since 2020. They are likely to be used in the war against Ukraine.
This is reported by the Japanese news agency Kyodo News, citing satellite images from the American company Maxar Technologies.
The disappearance of air defence systems was noticed by military expert Yu Koizumi from the University of Tokyo. He said that S-300V4 systems were stored on the territory of the military facility. They were deployed on Sakhalin in Kasatsky Bay and near Yuzhno-Kurilsk.
Koizumi also noted that the Russian military took old tanks and artillery from the Kuril Islands. According to him, the weapons that were stored at a military facility on Sakhalin will be sent to the frontline in Ukraine.
In addition, the analyst noted, the Russian military took old tanks and artillery from the Kuril Islands. He recalled that in September 2022, numerous transporters with S-300V4 missiles, radars and other equipment were spotted at both military stations.
Yu Koizumi believes that troops from the Far East are being deployed to Ukraine. According to him, an elite marine brigade based in Vladivostok has suffered significant losses in combat, and some residents of the Iturupu and Kunashira islands have been killed after being mobilised.
– “The Russian military is deploying all the weapons at its disposal, which indicates that it is actively involved in the conflict,” Koizumi said.
Iturup and Kunashir are among the four disputed islands that Japan calls its northern territories. Russia claims them and calls them the Southern Kuriles.
As a reminder, on 7 October 2022, the Verkhovna Rada adopted an appeal to the international community in which it recognised that the Northern Kuril Islands belong to Japan and are occupied by Russia. Tokyo welcomed the decision of Ukrainian parliamentarians.
In December 2022, Russia deployed mobile coastal defence missile systems on the island of Paramushir, part of the Northern Kuril Islands. In particular, Bastion systems with a range of up to 500 km were deployed.
On 7 February 2023, official Tokyo demanded that Moscow return the Kuril Islands to Japan and withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
