Roscosmos Chief Proposes Renaming Kuril Islands To Honor Russo-Japanese War

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2022) Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russian state space agency Roscosmos, on Monday came up with an initiative to rename the islands of the Kuril archipelago and give them Russian Names in honor of the naval vessels and events of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

"Why don't these islands have Russian names?.. I want to suggest that one of the islands, no matter in what order, let the locals decide, should be called Varyag (protected cruiser), the second should be named Korietz in honor of the gunboat that also fought heroically against the Japanese fleet, and the third island should be named after Vsevolod Rudnev (the captain of Varyag, who scuttled the ship and escaped with the surviving crew rather than surrender to the Japanese in the Battle of Chemulpo Bay)," Rogozin told Radio Sputnik.

The Habomai islands could be renamed as the archipelago of Russian Heroes-Sailors of the Pacific, Rogozin noted.

The Roscosmos chief added that the islands, like the entire Pacific Ocean, are soaked in the blood of the Russian navy, who fought there during both the Russo-Japanese War and the WWII.

The fact that the islands still do not have Russian names causes "some doubt" that they belong to Russia, Rogozin said, noting that the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad shed its German name Konigsberg after the Second World War.

In March, Russia withdrew from a negotiation with Japan on signing a post-World War II peace treaty and joint initiatives in the Kuril Islands, upon which Tokyo has sovereignty claims. The Russian foreign ministry said this was in response to Japan's "unfriendly steps," as it joined the Western countries in sanctioning Russia for starting a military operation in Ukraine. In turn, the Japanese cabinet decided to suspend visa-free travel exchanges with Russia for "the foreseeable future," including trips by Japanese nationals to the disputed islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai.