The Japanese Foreign Ministry has already responded to this information, saying that Tokyo is “closely monitoring the movement Russian troops"and is studying the issue of building a Russian Navy base in the Kuril Islands. So why does Russia need a base in the Kuril Islands, the appearance of which will certainly provoke discontent on the Japanese side, and where will it be located?

Let's start with the fact that from a military point of view, the Kuril Islands should be considered a strategic territory, if only because on these borders with our closest neighbor Japan we still do not have a peace treaty, and the islands of Kunashir, Shikotan, Iturup and the Habomai Tokyo archipelago are still considers it its “northern territories”. At the same time, the United States has its military installations on the territory of Japan itself.

In particular, huge strategic importance for the USA has Japanese island Okinawa. In fact, this is the Pentagon's outpost in the Pacific Ocean. It has a whole network of military bases, training grounds and airfields. There is a US military airbase called Kadena, which plays an important role for the American presence in Southeast Asia. In addition, approximately 16,000 U.S. Marines serve at Camp Hansen, Camp Schwab and Camp Zuckeran. In total, about 30,000 thousand American troops are stationed in Okinawa - approximately half of the entire US military contingent in Japan.

Even if we theoretically assume that a potential enemy seizes the Russian Kuril Islands, this immediately opens up for him a direct path to the entire territory of Russia from the side Pacific Ocean. That is why during the Soviet era the Kuril Islands were reliably protected by large groups of troops. In particular, a powerful marine division was stationed there. But then, with the collapse of the Union, the number of troops in the Kuril Islands began to rapidly decrease. It was expensive to supply troops from the center, the authorities rarely got there for inspections, and numerous reformers preferred to “cut” and “optimize” rather than prove the need to strengthen the Far Eastern group. So, in essence, the current decision to create a naval base here is just the restoration of the “status quo” - the previously existing situation.

It is known that today the 18th machine gun and artillery division, numbering up to three and a half thousand people, is based in the Kuril Islands. It is well equipped with self-propelled artillery, air defense systems, rocket artillery and tanks. An attack from the sea on the island of Kunashir can be repelled by the Bal complexes, and on the island of Iturup by the Bastion complexes.

In addition to missile systems, coastal units are reinforced with universal, highly automated Leer-3 complexes, which include control stations and Orlan-10 drones, which can be used by different types of troops - from motorized infantry and tank crews to electronic warfare units.

However, according to the military, for the anti-landing defense of the islands, as well as for a more tangible Russian military presence in the area, especially taking into account the fact that the Japanese still lay claim to them, it is still necessary to strengthen the naval group.

Now parts of the Pacific Fleet there are actually divided into two components - one is based in Vilyuchinsk, the other in Vladivostok. “An intermediate base is absolutely necessary,” says Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis.

It is not yet clear which of the Kuril Islands will become the location for the deployment of a new military facility for the Russian fleet. But the military department has been thinking about this task for a long time. Our sailors have more than once conducted months-long expeditionary trips to the islands of the Greater Kuril Ridge with the goal (Sergei Shoigu himself spoke about this) to study the possibility of a future basing of Pacific Fleet forces.

In particular, a joint expedition of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Geographical Society (which, by the way, like the military department is also headed by Sergei Shoigu) visited the island of Matua, which the Japanese used as a naval and air base during World War II.

Matua is an island in the middle of the Kuril chain, formed by volcanic activity. By the way, Japan does not lay claim to it, which is important if we consider the island as a potential location for a Russian Navy base. From this point of view, Matua is located very well. There are still three preserved from the Japanese runways. And the participants of the joint expedition were quite surprised when they found that, taking into account the wind rose, even the most modern aircraft can still land on these runways in almost any weather conditions.

According to a number of military experts, it is this island that will most likely be considered as the location of a new Russian naval base.

Illustration copyright AFP Image caption In 2010, the then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the Kuril Islands

Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Defense and Security of the Federation Council Franz Klintsevich announced the construction of a naval base in the Kuril Islands. This is not the first mention of a military facility on the islands; Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke about this earlier, but this is the first time this project has been talked about in the present tense.

“The decision has been made. It is under implementation,” Klintsevich said, without specifying where exactly the military facility will be located.

Perhaps he meant the island of Matua - a small piece of land in the center of the Kuril ridge. In 2016, Defense Minister Shoigu said that Russia intended not only to restore, but also to actively exploit this island.

By that time, a large expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and the Pacific Fleet (PF) had already visited the island. The second expedition began in the summer of 2017 and is still ongoing.

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“Specialists carried out more than 1,000 laboratory studies on physical, chemical and biological indicators, made more than 200 measurements of the relief and external environment. Radiation and chemical reconnaissance was also carried out, the fortifications of the island and more than 100 historical objects were examined. Divers carried out hydrographic research of the bays and bays of the island of Matua,” says the Russian Geographical Society’s website.

Illustration copyright Google Image caption Perhaps the naval base will be located on the island of Matua

The expedition reports talk a lot about the study of marine invertebrate animals and algae, the study of the activity of the Sarychev Peak volcano, but if the Ministry of Defense really intends to build a base on this island, then hydrographic studies of the relief are most likely especially important for it seabed and the study of the remains of Japanese military installations.

The new base will be capable of receiving any ships, including the first rank, Klintsevich said on Thursday, without specifying which ships will be based at this facility.

Ships of the first rank include aircraft carriers, destroyers, missile and anti-submarine cruisers, and nuclear submarines. For such deep-draft craft, the seabed really needs to be carefully prepared.

The ownership of some of the Kuril Islands by Russia is disputed by Japan. They went to the Soviet Union at the very end of World War II, when Soviet naval forces landed on the islands. The ownership of some of the islands was not secured by international treaties.

Japan claims the Kuril Islands Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of small Habomai islands, citing the Shimonoseki Treaty of 1855. The Matua island that Shoigu spoke about does not belong to the group of disputed ones - it is located in another part of the ridge, in its central region.

Russia insists that the islands belong to it, citing the inadmissibility of revising the results of World War II.

Island as a base

The Kuril Islands are located in a strategically important area: they separate the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean, as if blocking access to it from south coast Russian Far East.

During World War II, a powerful system of fortifications, airfields, and naval bases was built on the islands. One of the objects was located just on Matua - coastal concrete fortifications, the remains of an airfield, warehouses, and shelters still remain on the island.

Illustration copyright Google Image caption Traces of Japanese field fortifications remain on Matua

IN Soviet time and until 2001, there was a border post on the island, but in recent years the island remained uninhabited.

Currently, the 18th machine gun and artillery division (the only such formation in the Russian army) is deployed on the Kuril Islands with reinforcement units in Iturup and Kunashir. Recently, Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems, as well as Buk anti-aircraft systems, were deployed on the islands. The Bastion complex was located on the island of Iturup, and the Bal complex was located on Kunashir.

Matua is not the most comfortable place to live or even to build a military base. Strong winds blow on the island; there are no large convenient bays on the coast. Finally, all Northern part a small island - a volcano that last erupted quite recently - in 2009.

The island is located at a great distance from supply bases, and communication with it, especially in the winter months, is difficult due to the fact that the Sea of ​​Okhotsk freezes in this place.

Illustration copyright NASA Image caption Eruption of the Sarychev Peak volcano on the island of Matua in 2009

In any case, building a large base on it will be extremely expensive.

However, Russia appears ready to spend. On the one hand, the Kremlin has long been striving to expand its military presence in the World Ocean. And the Pacific region, which has attracted more and more attention in recent years, is extremely important for Russia.

For example, one of the two amphibious helicopter carriers that Russia intended to purchase from France was to be based in the Pacific Fleet.

“When I served in the Far East, the issue of placing a naval formation of the Pacific Fleet on the Kuril Islands was considered. It is profitable to create a base on the islands for the only reason - direct access to the ocean. Of the places that were determined to be suitable for it in terms of geometry, the difficulties were the following. The first - difficult ice conditions in winter. The second is the ebb and flow of tides of about six meters. The third is strong winds," the former commander said in an interview with RIA Novosti Baltic Fleet Admiral Vladimir Valuev.

During the times of the USSR, which had a larger Pacific Fleet than Russia now, on the Kuril Islands is larger military base was never built.

Russia's second goal is to gain a foothold on the Kuril Islands themselves. The unresolved issue with the Kuril Islands hinders the development of relations between the two countries; it is raised every time by Moscow and Tokyo and clearly makes both sides very nervous.

What kind of base can Russia afford?

Speaking about the scale of the future facility, Senator Franz Klintsevich said that the new base will be capable of receiving any ships, including the first rank.

At the same time, Klintsevich used the word “base”, that is, he meant a fairly large facility, which should include not only berths, but also infrastructure for Maintenance ships, ideally a dock and ship repair yard, barracks for housing crews and base personnel, air defense units and an airfield.

And all this is on an island with an area of ​​52 square kilometers, a significant part of which is occupied by a volcano.

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Senior researcher at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, Vasily Kashin, told the BBC that as a result, only a small logistics and technical support center for ships may appear on Matua, in Syria, and Russia will invest money in already existing bases of the Pacific fleet.

There are five of them in the Far East - in Vladivostok, Fokino, Vilyuchinsk (nuclear submarines are based there), Sovetskaya Gavan and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

“Maybe it will be a harbor where there will be several piers, again we don’t know how many; there will be an icebreaker and a couple of tugs, and some small forces will be constantly deployed,” he said.

At the same time, Kashin noted that even if, for example, a large anti-submarine ship (first rank) can approach the island, it is still unknown how many such ships can be serviced there at the same time and what volume of service they can receive there.

Image copyright AFP

Image caption In 2010, the then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the Kuril Islands

Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Defense and Security of the Federation Council Franz Klintsevich announced the construction of a naval base in the Kuril Islands. This is not the first mention of a military facility on the islands; Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke about this earlier, but this is the first time this project has been talked about in the present tense.

“The decision has been made. It is under implementation,” Klintsevich said, without specifying where exactly the military facility will be located.

Perhaps he meant the island of Matua - a small piece of land in the center of the Kuril ridge. In 2016, Defense Minister Shoigu said that Russia intended not only to restore, but also to actively exploit this island.

By that time, a large expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and the Pacific Fleet (PF) had already visited the island. The second expedition began in the summer of 2017 and is still ongoing.

• Russian senator: the decision on the naval base in the Kuril Islands has been made
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• Japan regrets the deployment of Russian missiles in the Kuril Islands

“Specialists carried out more than 1,000 laboratory studies on physical, chemical and biological indicators, made more than 200 measurements of the relief and external environment. Radiation and chemical reconnaissance was also carried out, the fortifications of the island and more than 100 historical objects were examined. Divers carried out hydrographic research of the bays and bays of the island of Matua,” says the Russian Geographical Society’s website.

Image copyright Google

Image caption Perhaps the naval base will be located on the island of Matua

The expedition reports talk a lot about the study of marine invertebrate animals and algae, the study of the activity of the Sarychev Peak volcano, but if the Ministry of Defense really intends to build a base on this island, then hydrographic studies of the seabed topography and the study of the remains of Japanese military structures are most likely especially important for it .

The new base will be capable of receiving any ships, including the first rank, Klintsevich said on Thursday, without specifying which ships will be based at this facility.

Ships of the first rank include aircraft carriers, destroyers, missile and anti-submarine cruisers, and nuclear submarines. For such deep-draft craft, the seabed really needs to be carefully prepared.

The ownership of some of the Kuril Islands by Russia is disputed by Japan. They went to the Soviet Union at the very end of World War II, when Soviet naval forces landed on the islands. The ownership of some of the islands was not secured by international treaties.

Japan claims the Kuril Islands Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of small Habomai islands, citing the Shimonoseki Treaty of 1855. The Matua island that Shoigu spoke about does not belong to the group of disputed ones - it is located in another part of the ridge, in its central region.

Russia insists that the islands belong to it, citing the inadmissibility of revising the results of World War II.

Island as a base

The Kuril Islands are located in a strategically important area: they separate the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean, as if blocking access to it from the southern coast of the Russian Far East.

During World War II, a powerful system of fortifications, airfields, and naval bases was built on the islands. One of the objects was located just on Matua - coastal concrete fortifications, the remains of an airfield, warehouses, and shelters still remain on the island.

Image copyright Google

Image caption Traces of Japanese field fortifications remain on Matua

During Soviet times and until 2001, there was a border post on the island, but in recent years the island has remained uninhabited.

Currently, the 18th machine gun and artillery division (the only such formation in the Russian army) is deployed on the Kuril Islands with reinforcement units in Iturup and Kunashir. Recently, Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems, as well as Buk anti-aircraft systems, were deployed on the islands. The Bastion complex was located on the island of Iturup, and the Bal complex was located on Kunashir.

Matua is not the most comfortable place to live or even to build a military base. Strong winds blow on the island; there are no large convenient bays on the coast. Finally, the entire northern part of the small island is a volcano that last erupted quite recently - in 2009.

The island is located at a great distance from supply bases, and communication with it, especially in the winter months, is difficult due to the fact that the Sea of ​​Okhotsk freezes in this place.

Image copyright NASA

Image caption Eruption of the Sarychev Peak volcano on the island of Matua in 2009

In any case, building a large base on it will be extremely expensive.

However, Russia appears ready to spend. On the one hand, the Kremlin has long been striving to expand its military presence in the World Ocean. And the Pacific region, which has attracted more and more attention in recent years, is extremely important for Russia.

For example, one of the two amphibious helicopter carriers that Russia intended to purchase from France was to be based in the Pacific Fleet.

“When I served in the Far East, the issue of placing a naval formation of the Pacific Fleet on the Kuril Islands was considered. It is profitable to create a base on the islands for the only reason - direct access to the ocean. Of the places that were determined to be suitable for it in terms of geometry, the difficulties were the following. The first - difficult ice conditions in winter. The second is the ebb and flow of tides of about six meters. The third is strong winds," former commander of the Baltic Fleet Admiral Vladimir Valuev said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

During the times of the USSR, which had a larger Pacific Fleet than Russia now has, a large military base was never built on the Kuril Islands.

Russia's second goal is to gain a foothold on the Kuril Islands themselves. The unresolved issue with the Kuril Islands hinders the development of relations between the two countries; it is raised every time by Moscow and Tokyo and clearly makes both sides very nervous.

What kind of base can Russia afford?

Speaking about the scale of the future facility, Senator Franz Klintsevich said that the new base will be capable of receiving any ships, including the first rank.

At the same time, Klintsevich used the word “base”, that is, he meant a fairly large facility, which should include not only berths, but also infrastructure for the maintenance of ships, ideally a dock and ship repair plant, barracks for accommodating crews and base personnel, air defense units and airfield.

And all this is on an island with an area of ​​52 square kilometers, a significant part of which is occupied by a volcano.

Senior researcher at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, Vasily Kashin, told the BBC that as a result, only a small logistics and technical support center for ships may appear on Matua, in Syria, and Russia will invest money in already existing bases of the Pacific fleet.

There are five of them in the Far East - in Vladivostok, Fokino, Vilyuchinsk (nuclear submarines are based there), Sovetskaya Gavan and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

“Maybe it will be a harbor where there will be several piers, again we don’t know how many; there will be an icebreaker and a couple of tugs, and some small forces will be constantly deployed,” he said.

At the same time, Kashin noted that even if, for example, a large anti-submarine ship (first rank) can approach the island, it is still unknown how many such ships can be serviced there at the same time and what volume of service they can receive there.

At the end of March, it was announced that in the near future a base for ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet may appear on the islands of the Great Kuril Chain disputed by Japan. Earlier, there were statements about a serious strengthening of the Eastern Military District and garrisons on the disputed islands. “Our Version” figured out why, given the growing military threat on the western borders, there is a significant strengthening of the Russian military group in the Far East.

As Sergei Shoigu reported, already in April the Navy will conduct a three-month expedition to the islands of the Great Kuril Ridge, the purpose of which will be to study the possibilities for creating a new base for the Pacific Fleet in the Kuril Islands. According to the Minister of Defense, the islands have an important military-strategic location to ensure the territorial integrity and national security of Russia, which is why placing bases here “will help the country solve these problems more effectively.” Earlier, the Ministry of Defense emphasized that a planned rearmament of the forces stationed in the Kuril Islands is being carried out.

In 2016, it is planned to transfer powerful and modern weapons to the region, including the Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems, as well as new generation drones.

At the same time, the Russian leadership understands that such activity will complicate relations with Japan. It is no coincidence that former military man and now head of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Viktor Ozerov has already called on Tokyo not to consider the possible basing of Russian warships in the Kuril Islands as a threat. However, noting that the number of ships of the Pacific Military Fleet that can be stationed in the Kuril Islands will depend on the quality of relations with Japan and other states of the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan can return the Kuril Islands by force today

The dispute between Russia and Japan over the “northern territories,” as the Southern Kuril Islands are called in Japan, has been going on for more than 60 years, and so far no compromise has been reached through diplomatic means. Therefore, in response to Shoigu’s statements, Japan immediately stated that strengthening the military infrastructure in the disputed territories was of concern to them. main reason is that the Kuril Islands are of great economic and military-strategic importance for the entire region. And above all for Russia: the deep-sea strait, which does not freeze in winter, between the islands of Kunashir and Iturup is the only exit to the ocean for the Pacific Fleet. That is why the issue of returning the islands to Japan, in principle, can hardly be resolved positively.

Today, neither side intends to concede; it seems that political methods have been exhausted, but no one believes in the prospect of a fourth war between Japan and Russia. Although, as recent events show, the situation in the world can change dramatically in a matter of weeks. So the military potentials of countries can play an important role in this dispute. And here, unfortunately, many things are not in Russia’s favor. According to experts, too few forces are concentrated in the east, while the units are scattered at a great distance from each other. Another problem for the Eastern Military District, which ensures the security of the Kuril ridge, is its remoteness, which does not allow troop groups to be built up in a short time. Therefore, experts believe that theoretically Japan is already capable of carrying out a lightning war today, quickly landing on the Kuril Islands, capturing harbors and anchorages, and covering all this from the sea and from the air. That is why Russia’s attention to the military component of the Kuril Islands is so great. Moreover, it arose against the background of the strengthening of the Japanese self-defense forces. Thus, in mid-July, the Land of the Rising Sun adopted amendments to the law that allow the use of the Japanese army to help protect its allies outside the country. The amendments also expanded the ability of Japanese forces to conduct peacekeeping operations overseas.

In addition, in recent years the Japanese have significantly strengthened their armed forces. Today, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force is one of the most powerful in the Asia-Pacific region and is more than 2 times larger than the Russian Pacific Fleet. In total, the Japanese Navy has more than 250 modern warships and auxiliary vessels and boats, including one light aircraft carrier and four helicopter destroyers. Most destroyers are equipped with anti-submarine helicopters and anti-ship missile systems with American Harpoon missiles. Landing ships are represented by pennants of the "Osumi" type, tank landing ships "Miura", "Atsumi", small landing ships types "Yura" and "Yusotei". With them, the Japanese are capable of transporting up to one brigade of ground forces at a time. There is even a light aircraft carrier of the Hyuga type.

There are 20 diesel submarines in service: 7 of the Harusio type, armed with Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Oyashio submarines are silent, with a 20-knot underwater speed, capable of firing torpedoes or Sub-Harpoon missiles from six bow torpedo tubes (533 mm). There are two boats of the Soryu type - with an increased diving range.

Alexander Khramchikhin, head of the analytical department of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis:

– The rearmament of the Eastern Military District and the division on the Kuril Islands is undoubtedly taking place as part of the planned re-equipment of the Russian Armed Forces, this has been talked about for a long time. Apparently, as part of this, the Kuril group will be re-equipped, and perhaps special attention will be paid to it. The reason for this refurbishment is obvious - these islands are disputed by Japan, while they are highly isolated for geographical reasons. Therefore, it is necessary to have a group there that is capable of repelling an enemy attack completely autonomously for some time.

The Pacific Fleet is recovering, but slowly

At the same time, the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy, battered by the post-Soviet era, is not being restored as quickly as we would like. Today, about a hundred ships remain of its former power, and a third of them are under repair, reserve or mothballed. At the same time, the Pacific Fleet is divided into two groups, which are based in Kamchatka and Primorye. The part remaining in Primorye has, in fact, turned into a small flotilla of heterogeneous forces, where the main combat power is the Varyag missile cruiser, which has crossed the 20-year mark.

Submarines are stationed in Kamchatka. The 16th submarine squadron is armed with Project 949A Antey submarine cruisers of the same type as the Kursk, Shchuka-B nuclear torpedo boats (Project 971), diesel-electric Varshavyanka and 667BDR strategic boats.

The Kuril Islands are directly defended by the 18th machine gun and artillery division with a strength of 3.5 thousand people. The 46th machine gun and artillery regiment is located on Kunashir, the 484th machine gun and artillery regiment is on Iturup. At the same time, the division is extremely poorly connected with the mainland, especially in winter time. This means that the garrison is highly dependent on the weather; the delivery of ammunition, food and medicine from the mainland will be difficult. All of the regiment's weapons and equipment are outdated; according to various estimates, up to 80% of the equipment and weapons require major repairs or must be written off. Only last year there were reports that the division had received T-80 tanks, this, of course, is not the most modern weapons, but if you remember that earlier IS-2, IS-3 and T tanks dug into the ground were used to create strong points -34, then this is serious progress.

According to some information, last year the Bal coastal anti-ship missile system, adopted by the Russian Armed Forces in 2008, was deployed to the disputed islands. It is designed to control territorial waters and strait zones, protect naval bases, other coastal facilities and coastal infrastructure. It is also reported that in this moment the Kuril Islands have a modern air defense system - the Tor and Buk complexes are on constant combat duty. There have been repeated statements that the Ministry of Defense is considering the option of deploying modern S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems in the Kuril Islands, but for now this is in the plans.

However, it looks like they will now be accelerated. Recently, it has been announced that a modern infrastructure will be created. In the Kuril Islands, the construction of military camps and the re-equipment of units based there have begun - by the end of 2016, 392 objects for various purposes will be built in Iturup and Kunashir. In this way, the Ministry of Defense is preparing to seriously strengthen the “eastern front” of the country, where, in the event of an armed conflict, many more problems may arise than on the western front.