Russia Sends Four Missile Warships Near Japan After Putin’s Provocative Kuril Islands Visit

Key Points:

• Four Russian missile-armed Project 12411M Molniya-1 corvettes from the Pacific Fleet were detected near Japan’s Hokkaido island, passing about 40 kilometers off Cape Soya on August 14, shortly after Putin’s visit to the disputed Kuril Island of Iturup.
• Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force monitored the vessels with a P-3C patrol aircraft, confirming they did not enter Japanese territorial waters, though their proximity heightened tensions amid ongoing territorial disputes.
• The same four warships had previously been spotted near Rebun Island on August 9, moving through the Soya Strait before returning west on August 14, indicating a deliberate naval maneuver in the area.
• Putin’s visit to Iturup on August 13, which Japan claims as part of its Northern Territories, triggered a formal protest from Tokyo and heightened rhetoric from Moscow, with Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warning of “monstrous consequences.”
• The Project 12411M corvettes are heavily armed with supersonic anti-ship missiles, naval guns, and surface-to-air missiles, underscoring Russia’s strategic military presence in the Kuril Islands amid the longstanding dispute preventing a formal World War II peace treaty with Japan.