The Kuril Islands, the subject of a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan, may be renamed in honor of Russian ships and the events of the Russo-Japanese War of the early 20th century.
Territorial disputes over the islands – which Russia says are part of its Kuril chain and which Japan calls its northern territories – have prevented Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a peace treaty that officially halted hostilities since World War II.
The director general of the Roscosmos space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, a former deputy prime minister in charge of Russia’s arms industry, on Monday suggested renaming one of the islands to the Varyag in honor of the cruiser that sank the 1904 Russian-Japanese war.
Rogozin is well known for his harsh statements and is heard on social media after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February.
He also suggested renaming the Habamai Islands an “archipelago of Russian heroic sailors.”
“Whenever states added territories, they gave them their names,” Rogozin told state radio station Sputnik.
“Why don’t these islands have Russian names?
“It would be much more logical than the names we now call these islands and which are destroying the Russian language.”
Japan has joined its Western allies in imposing economic sanctions on Russia after sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine as part of what Moscow calls a “special military operation.”
Ukraine and its allies claim that Russia has started an unprovoked war.
Russia withdrew from peace talks with Japan and froze joint economic projects related to the disputed Kuril Islands because of Japanese sanctions for the invasion.
https://thewest.com.au/news/world/russia-proposes-renaming-disputed-isles-c-6915890
